Cancer is no single condition.
Because of this no “catch all” cure exists, and perhaps the lack of apparent progress is in part because people insist on treating cancer as a single common organism - and some medical schools lacking better training on the topic may teach students that very misconception.
It has various causes, typically it is a malfunction of a cell in a given organism caused by a range of things, for instance, a virus, a mold, a fungus, moss, bacteria or a chemical/free radical. The malfunction has two effects, 1 - the self destruct mechanism of the cell fails, 2 - the faulty cell continues to replicate virus like; but grows to fungus proportions. Interestingly some research suggests some cancers ARE a fungus too not a faulty host cell at all. Confusing matters both forms grow in a similar pattern.
For example, cervical cancer is often a virus, skin cancer can be a chemical reaction between something like a fungus and UV light, worts are also a mild form of cancer that grows like a fungus, but these can be caused by both chemical, viral and fungal exposure.
Interestingly, cancer disables the “time limit” function of host cells that usually make them self destruct after enzyme markers at the end of the chromosomes deplete or a fault is detected - in theory if this could be done deliberately to a healthy cell, it would stop in part, aging. Trouble is cells get damaged every day naturally - you might not age but you would be riddled with growths, so the results wouldn't be pretty. (although if you could replace the enzyme without compromising the fault detection ability, you could stop aging and still be pretty - however this leads off into stem cell territory and out of the scope of this article)
Cancer can be treated a range of ways that need to be customised to the type of cancer present.
There are various treatments some more fringe than others, the main ones I am aware of are below, however by no means consider this a definitive or complete list. Fighting cancer is like an arms race. There will always be something new.
Recent quite promising research has been done in alkalinity treatments of some types of cancer. Some cancer cells are vulnerable to alkaline environments. Typically they thrive in acidic environments, so tests were done in neutral and alkaline environments. With favourable results with the alkaline. Basically if you talk with your GP, you can often place yourself on a self medicated course of bicarb soda, typically in glasses of water. (although in food is also possible) Patients could also switch to foods which are naturally alkaline for a gentler approach.
Another direction has been towards Cannabis oil which should be noted is also alkaline, this has been found to be quite effective as well. As an added bonus it could also provide any pain suppression requirement - reducing the overall number of medications required by the patient.
Notes: The B17 oil treatments listed below may simply be effective due to the alkalinity of the oil as well. Using Cannabis in other forms such as smoking will NOT be effective as this will have little or no effect on the alkalinity of your body.
For cancers found to be derived or a side effect of a particular virus, being immunised against the virus can give the body a chance to recover the damage on its own. One such example is the cervical cancer immunisation girls can get for the Human papilloma virus. This particular virus causes the type of damage to cells that can result in cancers.
This is like TNT dipped in thermite, it kills the cancer, and everything else, but like using TNT to kill mice, leaves a hole in the wall so big something else could move right in.. an elephant perhaps? It is reported as 45% effective - it is actually 100% effective (on the cancer) the problem is 65% of the time it CAUSES further chemical derived cancer to form, and damages other cells. This treatment should only be used as a last resort life lengthening treatment, or as a way to get ahead of fast progressing cancer until another less harmful treatment can be prepared - as the long term side effects almost certainly kill the patient.
Various chemical and radiation cocktails are are used for chemo, some less harmful that others. Most common side effects include nausea and hair-loss. It can also cause sterility, and partial or full failure of the immune system, damage organs (make sure they are healthy enough to take a little damage first!) and kill bone marrow. Make sure your GP has explored all the options; and has explained in detail the full implications of the particular cocktail they suggest using for your cancer. If you want children, be sure to have eggs or sperm frozen before hand. If the treatment they select can damage marrow, be sure they freeze a sample of your marrow beforehand; otherwise unless you have a healthy donor, expect a life of blood transfusions.
This has a range of methods but is basically the same, using a special tool they laser or burn away cancerous areas. Amputation of the cancer effectively. This has several advantages over Chemo - it is more targeted, is unlikely to cause system wide heavy metal poisoning; and subsequently wont cause new cancers to form elsewhere. The main downside is if any cancer is overlooked; or the cancer is in a sensitive location (nerves, spine brain etc) there may be secondary complications. It can be a good emergency treatment however, to gain time for other treatments to take effect.
Similar to chemo (and often used along side it) this involves using radiation or other high energy effects (ions, UV or sonics for example) in a targeted manner (not unlike a laser) to kill or weaken the cancer. It is less precise than a laser, but may be effective on some nodular style cancers that are too small or difficult to get at; but are all concentrated in a specific region. Generally misused and misunderstood (for example - effective to kill virus or bacteria related cancers, or a higher power setting to kill all surrounding tissue effectively starving it etc) it can be effective as a second to last resort treatment.
This is an older technology using a cocktail of minor non-fatal virus's or bacteria to compete with a given viral or bacteria cause. Phage was also known to be effective on bacteria and was used extensively prior to the discovery of antibiotics. Side effects - usually cold or flu like symptoms. Usually requires the person administering it to take a sample of the illness, and test various viruses and bacteria on it until one or more is found that competes with it. In the case of cancer - a virus capable of infecting the cancer cell, but the bodies immune system can kill, effectively using the immune system to kill the cancer cells. Or in the case of bacterial or viral derived cancers using a mixture that can compete effectively with it too. For maximum effectiveness the patients immune system should be suppressed slightly to allow the virus a better chance to maximise cancer cell infection, then allow the immune system to kick in and maximise kill rate.
The research in this area was quite extensive prior to the wider adoption of antibiotics (which are a simpler form of phage anyway) and it is still practised in less developed countries where a supply of antibiotics are difficult to source, or the local conditions are hostile to the antibiotic. Unfortunately in general this area of treatment has fallen into disuse, and detailed papers and documents on it will only exist in medical archives and unlikely to be found in electronic form. Pity, as this branch of research is what eventually led to immunisation and antibiotic technology. See T-Cell therapy for a more modern approach.
Also known as CAR T-Cell therapy (chimeric antigen receptor T-Cell therapy). This is a more specialised version of the older Phage technology. It involves taking the patients immune cells, typically the white bloodcells (but this is by no means definitive - the human body has a range of immune capabilities) and training/conditioning/reprogramming them to attack the patients cancer cells. Presumably this is simply done by putting blood or cancer cell cultures from the patient in a nutrient dish and agitating the white cells until they attack the cancer cells, or otherwise tinkering with its recepters to target the cancer cells; then reintroducing the white cells back to the patients body. Current trials in limited human tests restricted to patients given less than months to live has shown up to 80% sucess rates. There was also a not altogether unexpected 20% death rate in patients due to fevers and other reactions on already weakened, elderly or very young patients.
This is also known as B17 or Laetrile, which is essentially the same thing except more refined. This has an interesting history.
This is a theoretical treatment using nut oil, or almond oil or apricot oil the theory is the cyanide component of the oil becomes active when coming in contact with certain cancer related chemicals poisoning the cancer cell. This has the danger that it could harm healthy cells as well, suppressing the immune/healing response after treatment. Proponents insist it only releases harmless amounts of cyanide and only when it reacts with cancer.
Potentially this could lead to a very efficient and targeted treatment in some cases, without the systemwide harm caused by treatments like Chemo.
Testing showed that ORAL consumption of purified versions was potentially the most /dangerous/ as it reacts with various processes related to digestion. This apparently resulted in a number of deaths.
However some people simply consumed the raw seeds and nuts directly and anecdotal evidence suggested a degree of success even there - minus the toxic side effects.
The suggested form of treatment for purified or refined versions was an injectable form - as this way it never comes in contact with the digestive processes that make it toxic.
B17 or Laetrile the refined version of the above oil was a popular treatment in the 50's to 70's; and has been used as far back as centuries in places like Asia - which reportedly was quite effective on some /particular/ forms of cancer, and completely useless on others.
It became what was likely a near million dollar industry in the 1970's - driven by numerous reports by users of complete suppression or remission of some forms of cancer it powered a massive word of mouth demand for it.
Demand was so high, and the product so cheap that considerable effort and expense was made by the Pharmaceutical industry (which was not profiting from it) to discredit it, as it was far more profitable for them to treat cancer using chemo and radiation (particularly as like most US based treatments it later causes more of what it treats - leading to a revolving door of profits until it kills the patient). They lobbied Government and the FDA to have it banned with some success - essentially killing the treatment.
They did this by commissioning several reports; all primarily focusing on evidence from the forms of cancer it was completely useless on, and the toxic reaction to digestion - which was touted as evidence that B17 had no effect on cancer at all and suggesting it was as dangerous as Cyanide. These reports were particularly effective with their FDA lobbying - as the FDA tends to err on the side of caution - all too often to the point of stupidity with little possibility of review.
On the legal side, laws restricting distribution limited its use, but many US states responded to this by passing local laws permitting use in particular states at the time, as there was too many reports suggesting some positive therapeutic value, and chances are the lawmakers themselves knew someone who had benefited at the time.
To this the FDA countered by pushing legislators for jail terms for people found promoting or suspecting of handing any matters relating to it. This effectively closed the book on further study in this area - and killed all but the black markets for it.
Unfortunately this means no verifiable studies have been made on the forms of cancer it WAS effective on, nor any concrete evidence on what processes it was effecting in suppressing it beyond the theory regarding cyanide reactions noted above. This has perhaps led to the more disheartening situation that many scam artists are now promoting it and selling it at drug dealer style inflated prices and cashing in on the desperate and dying, who will often find themselves buying little more than injectable saline solution marketed as Laetrile.
However all is not lost - it cant hurt to regularly eat Almonds, and several companies market a sort of muesli mix containing a sort of apricot seed kibble, both of which contain the so called wonder chemical.
Cut out the effected tissue - usually fairly effective, but if even a single healthy cancer cell is left it will grow back. Often combined with a smaller scale treatment of chemo; and/or regular testing.
If you can catch a cancer, even a fast growing one early enough, and you only loose a patch of skin, this can buy you valuable time to find out what makes your cancer tick, and kill it less destructively later on.
This will not fix the environmental factor that caused the cancer to begin with. But can be used as a way to buy enough time to work out what is.
Damage the cells with ice crystals to kill it, and allow the bodies normal healing to dispose of it. Basically what is done to remove warts and the like. Has advantage someone could use something like wartner or electrical component freezing spray to self treat. Probably only safe to use on things like suspicious moles and warts. Ideally should be performed by your GP so he can monitor any underlying tissue and treat that too. Up side here is this treatment is effectively harmless, worst case scenario is some nasty frostbite burns.
Massive doses of anti-oxidants can dispose of some chemical / free radical related causes of cancer - allowing more effective treatment of the remaining cancer cells. It can also aid cell regeneration. Up side is it is pretty harmless, healthy foods, antioxidant tablets (like vitamin c, or broad spectrum super anti oxidants pills), juices like durian, blackcurrent or orange juice and yoghurt or pro-biotic drinks are pretty harmless and can improve your general health anyway. Just don't overdo the vitamin C, it can cause blood issues. Before taking any major diet changes, check with your GP about allergies first.
Stupid as it sounds, most people never drink enough fluids, and the ones they do drink are bad for their health. Subsequently many people suffer from severe acidity levels in their body. Nearly a century ago there was a well known case of a travelling “snake oil” salesman selling basically purified water labeled as a “health elixer”. It contained no chemicals or contamination (presumably it was distilled, filtered or simply spring water so it also tasted different to tap water) and he made a fortune selling this as buyers universally reported health improvements by drinking it three times a day!. That was until someone hoping to steal this miracle medicine took some to a chemist to be analysed, and they realised it was simply water. Albeit very clean water. You can imagine the negative public reaction at this point when people realised they were buying bottled water.. (water was free back in those days) Ironically today bottled water is a billion dollar industry - but it is mostly just high quality tap water and contains all the same chemicals you find in tap water.