Recently I watched an interview of a naturopathic doctor talking about a study printed in the Journal of Clinical Oncology stating that chemotherapy has less than a 3% contribution to the 5 year survival rate of adults. The study was actually about the low effectiveness of chemotherapy, the overall costs and does it make sense to continue to use chemotherapy? I went searching for this study which in fact concludes a 2.3% overall effectiveness to a 5 year survivor rate due to chemotherapy.

But there is more to the study, much more. The study is really about giving “cytotoxic” drugs in general for curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy. Do you know that in Australia the 5 year relative survival rate for cancer is now over 60% but that chemotherapy or cytotoxic drugs only play a small percentage of that survival rate, a 2.3%? In the United States the percentage is only 2.1% and just a guess but Canada probably will have close to that same rate. In all fairness you need to know that the overall rate was 2.1% in the United State and 2.3% in Australia but some types of cancer faired better than other types of cancers. Here is the list; Percentage 5-year survivors due to chemotherapy; stomach cancer 0.7%; colon cancer 1.8%; rectum 5.4%; pancreas 0%; lung 1.5%; soft tissue sarcoma 0%; melanoma of skin 0%; breast 1.5%; STOP DID YOU READ THAT breast cancer 1.5%; uterus 0%; cervix 12%; ovary 8.7%; prostate 0%; testis 41.8%; bladder 0%; kidney 0%; brain 4.9%; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 10.55; Hodgkin’s disease 35.8%; multiple myeloma 0%.

You need to understand what a cytotoxic drug by definition is, and I found this definition from several sources. A cytotoxic drug is a group of medicines that contain chemicals which are toxic to cells, they prevent them from duplicating themselves or replication and growth. This type of drug is used to treat cancer. Well that is the definition but statistically they have a low effective rate in many cancers as proven by the above mentioned study which is called, The contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adult malignancies, Journal of Clinical Oncology December 2004 Volume 16, Issue 8, pages 549-560.

In my practice I have seen many, too many women who have taken cytotoxic drugs with breast cancer, even to be told they are only a low dose, then to develop a secondary cancer. One of the many side effects of chemotherapy is secondary cancers.

Every person has to do what they feel is right for them. But and I want to be clear, if you were given this study to read and told that your chemotherapy in breast cancer only has a proven 5 year survival rate of 1.5% would you think twice about taking chemotherapy? I want people to understand all the facts and not to make a decision based on fear. This study is printed in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, your oncologist should know about this study.

Diane Elms Homeopath, D.H.M.H.S., CCI, CCII, Specializing in Drugless Cancer Care, 2006 Iridologist of the Year, contact diane@choicesforhealthandharmony.com or 905 768 0848