THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (07/04/04)

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> 7 Jul 2004 05:05:50 -0000

> " Cancer Decisions "

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> THE MOSS REPORTS Newsletter (07/04/04)

>

>

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> Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. Weekly CancerDecisions.com

> Newsletter #139 07/04/04

>

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>

>

>

> THE MOSS REPORTS

>

>

> This week I received a letter so gratifying that I

> wanted to share it with you:

>

>

> Dear Dr. Moss,

>

> I just finished reading your remarks about this

> year's ASCO meeting and I want to thank you for your

> insightful commentary. I am a physician with board

> certifications in hematology, medical oncology, and

> radiation oncology who has practiced cancer medicine

> for nearly 25 years.

>

> I joined ASCO in 1980 when there were only 2000

> members and the book of abstracts for the annual

> meeting contained about 10 percent of the words it

> does now. It didn't take long, though, before I got

> really sick of reading the results of phase II

> trials for one drug or the other, all having 10-30

> percent " response rates " and claiming " improved

> survival. " The statistical necessity for such

> " measurable endpoints " has distorted the thinking of

> many oncologists who have lost track of the purpose

> of medicine in general as a result. It has been my

> sad experience that few oncologists are interested

> in palliative care - including the palliative

> benefit many CAM therapies offer - even though a

> very large proportion of the practice of cancer

> medicine is palliative by definition.

>

> In my opinion, it is far past time for oncologists

> to become more mindful of the fact that immortality

> is not a medical option, that " response rate " is a

> dubious scientific parameter, that disease

> eradication is not tantamount to cure, and that

> every living thing is greater than the sum of its

> parts. I don't believe in selling ineffective

> therapies, either CAM or conventional, to anyone,

> but I have to congratulate some of the CAM

> practitioners I know. They provide better

> palliative care for their patients than the

> physicians do.

>

> Chemotherapeutic pharmacology and the basics of

> radiotherapy can be taught to any bright individual

> in a few months, but the art of medicine takes many,

> many years to learn…All oncologists ought to be

> reading your newsletter to keep the technology of

> medicine in proper perspective.

>

> Regards,

>

> Michael Shea, MD

>

>

> =======================

>

> VISIT TO CALGARY

>

>

> I have just returned from a visit to western Canada.

> Most of my time there was spent in the city of

> Calgary, where I had five speaking engagements in

> less than a week. Many people outside of Canada know

> little about Calgary, except perhaps that the Winter

> Olympics were held there in 1988. However, it is a

> vibrant city of almost one million people, which has

> become prosperous from the oil wells of Alberta.

> There is an intense interest in bringing the latest

> developments of world medicine to Calgary and its

> burgeoning population.

>

> My original purpose in going there was to speak at

> the Third Annual " CAMera " meeting held at the

> University of Calgary. CAMera stands for

> Complementary and Alternative Medicine Education &

> Research Network of Alberta. This is a

> not-for-profit organization, whose membership is

> open to researchers, administrators and

> practitioners across the province of Alberta with an

> interest in CAM research.

>

> For more information on CAMera click or go to:

>

http://www.cameraresearchnetwork.ab.ca/symposium/symposium.html

>

> On Friday and Saturday nights, June 19 and 20, I

> gave speeches for the general public at the

> Foothills Medical Center on " what works and what

> doesn't " in cancer treatment. These events were both

> well attended. On Sunday, I followed with a

> four-hour presentation at the same hospital for

> health care practitioners on the history of CAM and

> cancer and how to integrate alternative medicine

> into one's practice.

>

> To view a picture of Calgary's Foothills Medical

> Center,click or go to:

>

http://www.cancerdecisions.com/images/imi_building.jpg

>

>

> I was especially eager to tour the Integrative

> Medicine Institute (IMI), a non-profit CAM center in

> the heart of Calgary, which is using a variety of

> unusual treatments for cancer and other diseases.

> This visit came about as a result of discussions I

> had last year with one of IMI's doctors, Susan

> Janssens, ND, during Medicine Week in Baden-Baden,

> Germany. It was extremely interesting for me to

> exchange ideas with the staff of the Institute on

> what would constitute an ideal CAM cancer facility.

> While in Calgary, I also had a breakfast meeting

> with some leaders of the Alberta CAM community and

> toured the IMI facility.

>

> To view a picture of the building that houses the

> Integrative Medicine Institute, click or go to:

>

http://www.cancerdecisions.com/images/foothills_hospital.jpg

>

> Another high point was my visit to the laboratory of

> Francis H. Green, MD. Dr. Green, a pathologist and

> lung disease specialist at the University of

> Calgary, has authored more than 100 PubMed-listed

> articles on these topics. He demonstrated for me his

> new Richardson RTM-3 microscope, which produces

> images of the dynamic behavior of cells in terms of

> color, motion, resolution and detection. It shows,

> with great clarity and in full color, the workings

> of living tissue samples in real time. Unlike

> conventional microscopy, there is no need for

> fixation, stains or fluorophores (fluorescent dyes),

> all of which may alter cells' behavior or structure.

> Fresh samples, for example of cancer cells, can be

> put in the RTM-3 and viewed at magnifications of

> 12,000 to 15,000 within less than 15 seconds. This

> technique is bound to yield exciting new knowledge

> about the actual behavior of cells as well as of

> microorganisms that are associated with various

> diseases, including cancer.

>

> In addition to discussing the tangled history of the

> relationship between bacteria and cancer, Dr. Green

> and I talked about the broad potential of innovative

> types of microscopy in the field of cancer and the

> need to put such developments on a thoroughly

> scientific basis through fully replicable

> investigations and publication in peer-reviewed

> journals.

>

> All in all, I came away very impressed at the growth

> of CAM in the western half of the vast and beautiful

> country of Canada. CAM is already strong there and

> there is a growing interest in bringing the best of

> CAM cancer treatments to this region and in

> establishing co-operative links with like-minded

> practitioners around the world. In a period in which

> alternative theories and treatments of cancer are

> increasingly under attack, it is heartening to see

> such burgeoning interest at first hand. Sincere

> thanks to my IMI hosts in Calgary, especially Susan

> Janssens, ND, Craig Kirker, DDS, Antonin Kodet, ND,

> and Badri (Bud) Rickhi, MD, to the other doctors and

> staff members of the IMI, as well as to my new

> friends at CAMera, Foothills Hospital, and the

> University of Calgary. Special thanks to Mr. Alan

> Markin, co-owner of the Calgary Flames hockey team,

> who sponsored my first—but hopefully not last—visit

> to this beautiful city.

>

>

>

> --Ralph W. Moss, PhD

>

> ---------------

> IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER

>

> The news and other items in this newsletter are

> intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in

> this newsletter is intended to be a substitute for

> professional medical advice.

>

> --------------

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