Ablation, immunotherapy, virotherapy and even repurposed off-label drugs are four alternative treatments for kidney cancer, or renal cancer, worth looking into given that, despite many new drugs, kidney cancer death rates have only fallen by one per cent in almost 20 years.
Kidney cancer, Renal cancer - treatment alternatives
The typical treatment for Kidney cancer, or Renal cancer, used to be very basic. Tumours in the Kidney were usually resolved by total removal of the kidney; drug options were poor and might involve the use of Interferon, which one oncologist told me hardly ever worked.
In March 2018 experts at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center went further. They actually said that despite many new drugs being approved since 2002, Kidney cancer death rates had only fallen 1%. Meanwhile the number of new cases had risen dramatically.
Let's look at how treatment is moving forward.
* Kidney Cancer Ablation
It is claimed that surgery to remove a part of the kidney has the highest success rates, but there are other options to surgery.
Ablation involves heating the tumours to the point where they die. Cryoablation involves freezing them to death.
Percutaneous Ablation - The technique involves pushing a probe through your skin (guided by a CT scan or by Ultrasound). The probe is then centred in the tumour and heats it, or freezes it. This is usually an outpatient proceedure and does not require a general anaesthetic. If the tumour is towards the rear of the kidney, it is easy to access for an ablation probe. If the tumour is near the front, it may not be possible.
According to Johns Hopkins, ablation and cryoablation have similar success rates.
HIFU - Another way of heating the tumour is to use High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound or HIFU. The probe may be inserted through the abdomen wall robotically. New York University Langone have had good success with this method.
Go to: Ablation - a real alternative to surgery
* Kidney Cancer Immunotherapy
In 2015, following a single clinical trial, an immunotherapy Nivolumab was approved to treat advanced kidney cancer. However, by 2018, Roswell Park scientists had tested two immunotherapy drugs in combination - Nivolumab and Ipilimumab. Both are 'checkpoint inhibitors' - Nivolumab (Opdivo) blocks a protein on T-cells called PD-1 and Ipilimumab (Yeryov) blocks a molecule CTLA-4. Both of these inhibit the immune system. The scientists believed they had impressive results with more that a third of the 1,100 Renal cell carcinoma patients surviving longer than those on standard treatment.
Go to: Comprehensive overview on Immunotherapy
* Virotherapy for Kidney cancer
James Allison is head of immunology at MD Anderson. He is working on combining immunotherapy with virotherapy. For example he is looking at cancer killing vaccines like the Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV). This is early days yet, but a number of top quality medical centres are studying virotherapy and you could contact them
Go to: Virotherapy in cancer treatment
One, virotherapy, is often touted as an alternative cancer treatment. Called Rigvir, it was developed by Latvian scientists and is used by private alternative cancer clinics from Germany to Mexico.
Go to: Overview on Kidney cancer - symptoms, causes and treatment alternatives
* Off-label repurposed drugs for Kidney cancer
You might like to look into off-label drugs. Several drugs, originally developed for other illnesses, can have significant effects fighting cancer - for example metformin to cut blood sugar and stop cancer feeding; atorvastatin to cut blood fats and stop cancer spreading; Dipyridamole to stop platelet adhesion and reduce metastases; Itraconozole, a fungus killer to attack cancer cells and reduce metastases. These drugs have been around for years and their safety is well established.
Take a look at our 'starter article':
Go to: How to build an anti-cancer programme using off-label drugs
And even buy Jane McLelland's game-changing book "How to starve cancer" at a discounted price - HERE.