The question was posed by Ben L. Pfeifer, M.D., Ph.D., and Director of Clinical Research at the Aeskulap Clinic in Switzerland. He is an integrative oncologist with more than 30 years’ experience using both conventional and complementary therapies.
In September 2015 he traveled to London to present his treatment protocols for late-stage, i.e. metastatic, prostate cancer . Our London correspondent attended. This is what Dr. Pfeifer had to report. . .
Continued below. . .
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After looking at the statistics and the poor prognosis for those with metastatic prostate cancer, Dr. Pfeifer was not in any way opposed to conventional treatments. In fact, he spent some time looking at the advances in such therapies and said many new drugs have come on the market, some of which have been shown to prolong life with fewer side effects.
A holistic approach is needed
In his opinion, leading edge conventional therapies should be used. However, a holistic approach is also required. Oncologists should consider dietary interventions, physical exercise programs, and psycho-oncological therapy.
He also recommends anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, and anti-angiogenesis therapies, as well as detoxification, phytotherapy, and modulating and supporting the immune system.
"They should examine our work over 15 years and see the benefits they could get for their patients. If they did, they could buy time, turning the disease into a chronic condition for the patient."
80-90% of all cancer is caused by environmental factors (petrochemical toxins and heavy metals, for example), wrong lifestyle choices (smoking, heavy drinking, recreational drugs, lasting stress), and bad nutrition (food without nutritional value).
"Choose the wrong nutrition and you are foolish to believe your cancer will go away."
Although Dr. Pfeifer doesn't believe there is a cancer diet as such, he says we know what's good for us. His program is quite simple:
- Hydration with more than two liters of ionized water each day - pH 8.5 to 9 (in other words, water with a heavy tilt toward alkalinity)
- Reduced animal fats and more fresh fruit and vegetables
- Reduced calorie intake; goal: normal weight
- Occasional intravenous chelation therapy - reduce heavy metals and environmental carcinogenic material.
- Cyclic detoxification therapy with activated zeolite
The last listed is a specific product called "detox me" which he developed with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
Volcanic rock is ground down to nanoparticles to increase their surface area; the particles take on biological properties. The volcanic rock in “detox me” becomes a strong ion-exchanger with detoxifying, antioxidative and immune modulating effects.
This is combined with a patented green tea extract to remove heavy metals, aflatoxins, pesticides, herbicides and radioactive nuclides. It attracts and buffers excess protons, activates macrophages, and stimulates lymphatic and immune system cells. This is given on a cyclical basis three times a year for two months for all his cancer patients.
They also receive a support supplement called Imupros which contains green tea extract (a source of epigallocatechin gallate), tomato extract to supply lycopene, soy extract to supply genistein, as well as vitamins C, E and D and the minerals calcium, zinc and selenium.
This supplement is time-released and each component is packaged in small envelopes to be released at certain times in the intestinal tract so that they can't influence each other chemically.
Phytotherapy for prostate cancer
There are nine specific supplements that can be given to patients although they do not usually receive all of them. It depends on their clinical status and progression. They may only take three or four.
These products are Prostasol, Curcumin complex, Indole-3-Carbinol, Artemisinin, Convolvulus arvensis, Imusan, Aeskulap Sitosterol Mix, Aeskulap modifed citrus pectin, and Biobran.
Not all were detailed in the presentation. Only the following were highlighted.
Prostasol includes extracts of nine medicinal herbs including LinumLife (consisting of flaxseed extract with a high concentration of lignans), and biocurcumin complex BCM95 (curcuminoids). This form of curcumin, he says, is better than normal curcumin because it's easily absorbed. For the same amount you get seven to eight times higher blood levels of the nutrient.
Prostasol inhibits cancer growth, reduces PSA, and reduces pain. It is efficacious even in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).
In a laboratory study on hormone-refractory prostate cancer cells which Dr. Pfeiffer conducted with a colleague, Prostasol inhibited cancer growth in a dose dependent manner, down-regulated PSA expression and androgen-receptor activity, and sensitized the cells to heat and radiation. This would make radiotherapy more effective.
Curcumin complex is a combination of biocurcumin, resveratrol and quercetin. Curcumin inhibits cancer growth, is anti-inflammatory and inhibits angiogenesis - the development of new small blood vessels to support cancer growth.
Indole-3-Carbinol is used because of its effects at a molecular level on estrogen. In aging men, estrogen goes up and testosterone goes down. This imbalance facilitates the growth of prostate cancer. The aim is to bring these back into greater balance. I3C also works for cancer that has become hormone-insensitive.
The supplement reduces 16 alphahydroxestron to restrict cancer growth, increases turnover of estradiol to estriol, a weaker estrogen, increases apoptosis (cell death), inhibits cancer cell growth through interference with signal transduction, and inhibits the growth of hormone-independent prostate cancer cells by 50%.
Artemisinin has significant anti-cancer efficacy. It is anti-inflammatory and inhibits angiogenesis and cancer growth. (See Issue #382 for more on artemisinin.)
Biobran is a very effective immune system supplement. It is manufactured in Japan using a patented process to break down rice bran using enzymes from Shitake mushrooms.
Biobran stimulates cellular immune defense and is the strongest natural killer (NK) cell stimulator available. It improves survival in cancer patients. In one study of 205 patients with metastatic stage 3 and 4 cancers, two-year survival in the Biobran group was 54.2% compared to 33.9% in the control group. There was also a significant difference in NK activity between the two groups.
Dendritic cell vaccination
The Aeskulap Clinic also uses dendritic cell vaccination to prime the patient's immune system.
In this procedure, dendritic cells from the patient are exposed to immune cell stimulants to mature them. They are then presented to antigens from the patient's own cancer cells so they “learn” to recognize them. After this the dendritic cells are given back to the patient to seek out cancer cells and affect an immune response against them.
Dr. Pfeifer is working with Howard Medical School to develop this procedure even further by looking to address the immune response against tumor stem cells. They have been working on this for only two years but have seen a much better response in the 30 patients they have enrolled so far. (See Issue #414 for more about dendritic cell therapy.)
Patient successes
Dr. Pfeifer finished his presentation with successful case studies of patients who were treated with his protocols.
A 55-year-old patient had prostate cancer metastasize to the bone and a PSA of 87.4 ng/ml before undergoing hormone ablation therapy. He then became hormone refractory (castration resistant). After this his PSA increased to 2800 with bone pain and significant tumor anemia. He had multiple metastases to the skull, spine, rib cage, and pelvis.
He started the Pfeiffer protocol in 1998 with an early form of Prostasol as well as Curcumin, Biobran, and later Imupros with I3C. From 2003 he received dendritic cell vaccination therapy and regular detox.
In the first year of treatment his PSA fell from 2800 to under 400 and after 2.5 years was less than 1. After two years bone lesions were greatly reduced, there were no visible signs of metastasis to the spine and tumor anemia had disappeared. He had no pain and was mobile with good quality of life. As of 9th September, 2015, his PSA was 0.26 and all bone lesions had vanished.
In 2004 a study of 174 mCRSC patients was conducted over 12 months. They took Prostasol, Curcumin, Imupros and Biobran only. For 87 of these patients, PSA, tumor volume and metastatic pain fell and quality of life improved.
In a much larger study that began in 2001, 494 patients with mCRSC were followed up for 10 to 14 years. (Dr. Pfeifer did not say what treatment they received but I assume they had the full protocol, judging by the results.) Of these, 388 are still alive. 28 of these 388 have survived more than 12 years, eight have survived 14 years, even though the prognosis given by their conventional oncologists was for no more than a year.
Finally, Dr. Pfeifer presented a graph of survival times. Under conventional care, 30% of late-stage prostate cancer patients will survive two years compared to 70% for the Pfeifer protocols. At least 15 times as many will survive five years compared to standard treatment if they came to the Aeskulap Clinic.
So in answer to the question, can't we do better than this, the answer is a resounding yes!
I visited the Aeskulap Clinic with my colleague, Andrew Scholberg, in 2010. It’s one of the recommended clinics in Andrew’s best-selling book German Cancer Breakthrough. At the time, we spoke with another physician, not Dr. Pfeifer.
This remarkable clinic is among those we recommend, but we think it’s probably best suited to patients who want a combination of conventional and alternative therapies (as you can tell from Dr. Pfeifer’s remarks above.)
My own preference is for a pure alternative approach, especially for late-stage cancer. But many people feel this is too radical or too risky – or their families put them under pressure to stick to chemotherapy and radiation. If that sounds like you, then Dr. Pfeifer’s clinic could be your ticket.
Meanwhile, if you want to avoid getting cancer in the first place (and who doesn’t?), we published an idea in our last issue that’s simple, easy and free. If you missed it, scroll down and read it now.
