By David Kooby, MD
Usually we do not see a lot of attention focused on pancreatic cancer in the media, but the illness of a celebrity has put it front and center.
Just some basics: the pancreas is a gland located deep in the abdomen between the stomach and the spine. This organ is about six inches long, shaped like a banana peel.
The pancreas is important to us because it makes insulin along with other hormones. These hormones enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body, helping to use or store the energy that comes from food. Insulin, in particular, helps control the amount of sugar in the blood. The pancreas also makes digestive juices containing enzymes that help break down fat.
Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive malignancy that begins in the cells of the duct (or tube) running along the length of the pancreas. Each year about 42,000 new cases of pancreatic cancer are diagnosed and more than 35,000 people die from this cancer. A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is usually made after discovery of a mass or a dilated duct in the pancreas.
Pancreatic cancer can be difficult to diagnose. Patients often come in for a doctor’s visit with non-specific symptoms such as abdominal or back pain or weight loss. Some patients will develop jaundice (yellowing of the skin) as a result of the tumor blocking the duct draining bile from the liver.
A variety of techniques can be used to establish a diagnosis, including CAT scan or ultrasound. The best way to diagnose pancreatic cancer is through “histopathology” or studying tissue removed from the pancreas through a biopsy. It is not easy to obtain a biopsy of the pancreas and it does carry some risk, thus some cases are operated on to remove the tumor without a firm preoperative diagnosis.
No one knows the exact causes of pancreatic cancer, although some risk factors are known through research that has been done.
According to the National Cancer Institute, the following are risk factors for development of pancreatic cancer:

Age — The likelihood of developing pancreatic cancer increases with age. Most pancreatic cancers occur in people over the age of 60.
Smoking — Cigarette smokers are two or three times more likely than nonsmokers to develop pancreatic cancer.
Diabetes mellitus – Pancreatic cancer occurs more often in people who have diabetes than in people who do not.
Being male — More men than women are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Being African American — African Americans are more likely than Asians, Hispanics or whites to get pancreatic cancer.
Most people with these risk factors do not get pancreatic cancer. On the other hand, many who do get the disease have none of these factors. While there are no screening procedures available for early detection, people who think they may be at risk for pancreatic cancer should discuss this concern with their doctor who may suggest ways to reduce the risk.
55 comments Add your comment
Tammy Andries
June 3rd, 2009
6:12 pm
Thank you Dr. Kooby, for getting some information out there about pancreatic cancer. I am currently a 3 year survivor and try every day to get information out to the public. The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, http://www.pancan.org, is a non-profit that I volunteer with and they are helping to get increased federal funding for early dectection screening and better treatment. Again, thank you for spreading the word. T.
John
June 3rd, 2009
9:23 pm
Congrats Tammy on beating the odds so far. Heres hoping for many more years for you.
Rule .303
June 3rd, 2009
11:26 pm
I’m sorry, this article sheds no light on this cancer. In fact, Patrick Swayze encountered none of these risk factors…
Kaly
June 4th, 2009
12:07 am
The article is somewhat a load of bull. I’ve lost several to pancreas cancer. Not one of ‘em had any of the risk factors.
Winfield J. Abbe
June 4th, 2009
7:05 am
This article illustrates that although over $ 105 billion has been squandered on cancer “research” since 1971, even most medical doctors cannot provide an intelligent explanation of what cancer is, let alone how to treat it without killing the patient since all orthodox approved cancer treatments are life threatening. The genius in Germany Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph.D. (1883-1970) discovered the prime cause of cancer decades ago as published in 1923 for animals. If the oxygen is reduced for living tissue by about one third, the cells become cancerous and instead of running on oxygen metabolism, switch to running on glucose primarily in the absence of oxygen or fermentation. Hundreds of different organs and tissues were tested to prove this. It took roughly another 40 years to prove this for human cancer too. It takes time for the transformation from oxygen based metabolism to glucose based metabolish to occur, often decades in humans. Once it has made this transformation, the cancer is irreversible sort of like a fried egg is irreversible by removal of heat alone. Cancer is not hundreds of diseases as falsely claimed by the medical orthodoxy, but one disease, oxygen difficiency to living cells over a long period of time or respiratory impairment to living cells or the wrong energy supply. All cancer cells metabolize via anerobic glycolysis and this explains why those with diabetes have higher cancer rates since their systems do not properly process glucose. CAncer is also not genetically caused as falsely claimed by the cancer generals. These statements are based on experiments and facts and not genetic speculations. The cancer generals have denied this basic scientific information for decades and this explains why they do not know what they are doing and why their quack treatments all fail; they are guilty of scientific misconduct, fraud, medical quackery and crimes against humanity and must be fired immediately and prosecuted for medical quackery against unwitting cancer patients. When will the “sheeple” of America wake up to the fact that they have been fleeced by the cancer generals and the fools in Congress and the executive branch who appoint them?
References:
“The truth about hydrazine sulfate-Dr. Gold Speaks” by Joseph Gold, M.D., http://www.hydrazinesulfate.org.
“The Hidden Story of Cancer” by Brian Peskin, E.E. and Amid Habib, M.D., Pinnacle Press, Houston, 2006-2008.
“The Cancer Industry” by Ralph W. MOss, Ph.D., Equinox Press, N.Y., 1996, first published as “The Cancer Syndrome” 1980.
“Cancer, Its Cause, Prevention and Cure” by John P. Dobbins, Sc.D., Cytobiologische Revue, No. 3, pp. 123-134, 1985.
Winfield J. Abbe
A.B., Physics, UC Berkeley, 1961
Ph.D., Physics, UC Riverside, 1966
Athens, GA.
Songbird
June 4th, 2009
9:15 am
My mother died from pancreatic cancer. She was 42, white, nonsmoker. None of the risk factors mentioned above can be correlated with her. I have always wondered why she got this cancer. She had 3 sisters who, two still alive in their 80’s. One who died at 86. No one else in the family has had this desease. This article does nothing to answer my question of why.
Wanda
June 4th, 2009
9:54 am
Dr. Kooby,
You were my dad’s Dr. 3 years ago. Thank you for all you did for him. Our family really thought alot of you. We mailed you a CD of my dad’s band. He was a drummer. I hope you remembered him. His name was Walter Bryson. We miss him so much.
Sincerely, Wanda Bryson
Wanda
June 4th, 2009
9:57 am
My dad had one of the symptoms. He had jaundice.
sharon
June 4th, 2009
10:24 am
Rule .303, it’s been widely reported that Patrick Swayze was a heavy smoker and drinker.
sharon
June 4th, 2009
10:29 am
I tend to look at cancer as the eeny meeny miny mo disease or tag you’re it because it happens to anybody whether they have risk factors or not. There are people who smoke that never get lung cancer, but yet there are many who don’t smoke get lung cancer. Vegeterians and highly active women are getting breast cancer. So, the bottom line is , you never know when it’s going to be your turn. The smerican cancer society tells us to avoid/limit alcohol. Again, there are a lot of alcoholics who do not get cancer. If you’ll notice people are dying younger from cancer.
Annette
June 4th, 2009
2:04 pm
Pancreatic cancer took my father in 2003. When first diagnosed he was in stage 4 with “weeks” to live. We got Dad into a trial chemotherapy thru Johns Hopkins that gave him an additional year he may not have had. Our family has joined the pancreatic cancer family reseach program at Johns Hopkins and hope to help them in finding the cure, or at least an early detection. It is my understanding that there is a gene that can be isolated as a potential indicator. I hope in my lifetime, the test is perfected, and an early warning test available.
Cheryl
June 4th, 2009
2:46 pm
I am a firm believer that what we eat and drink these days IS causing cancers in some. Many people may be more susceptible to some of the ingredients in what we eat and drink, and if you read labels, you’ll see there are a lot of UNnatural things in our foods and drinks, and I think these things are causing our cells to go crazy and reproduce rampantly. There are more people on average getting cancer these days and not just because there are more people in the world. Our foods are made differently today than they were 40-50 years ago. Think about it. We are what we eat (and drink). Be careful of artificial sweetners and preservative chemicals. Also, smoking IS a factor. I’ve known 2 people who had pancreatic cancer and were smokers.
S. Conway
June 4th, 2009
4:20 pm
Get real! Dr. Kooby’s article appears to have been written for the lay public, NOT for those experienced in pancreatic cancer-personally or professionally. (BTW Rule.303, Patrick Swazye HAS smoked for many years!) And risk factors are just that; it doesn’t mean that you have to have one or more of those in order to get pancreatic cancer! No more so than you have to be a smoker to get lung cancer!
Mr. Abbe, I don’t know the “cancer generals” are to whom you refer, but it takes more than a long paragraph to describe the biology of cancer in general, and specifically the carcinogensis and chromosomal abnormalities in pancreatic ca. It’s people like the late Dr. Judah Folkman whose work on angiogenesis nearly 40 yrs ago has lead to better understanding and treatment of cancerous tumor growth, AND whose work has been widely replicated, validated, and augmented.
GT1960
June 4th, 2009
8:30 pm
There’s really no need in being so abusive towards this article. If we understood everything about cancer it wouldn’t kill so many people every year. One thing is for certain, a diet high in antioxidents and eating more servings of fruits and vegetables will go a long way to warding off cancer. There is a new drink mix out, Macon based company, that provides 5 servings of fruits and vegetables along with 5000 units of antioxidents in ONE 16oz drink. Come get the scoop. http://www.zoelifestyle.com/gtomlin or email me at gtomlin1960@gmail.com Watching what you put into your body WILL make a difference in your health.
allamerican
June 4th, 2009
8:36 pm
You are so right that what we put into our bodies causes these horrible cancers and that eating fruits and veggies and getting plenty of antioxidants can keep our cells healthy and keep the bad cancer cells away. I take many vitamins, etc. and feel great at 63.
Margaret Woodard
June 4th, 2009
9:35 pm
So people have many symptoms. Treatment is typically chemo and radiation. Qulity of life goes down hill until mainstream conventional oncologist and docs say they can’t do anything else, “Time To Go Home and die.”
Anyone know if Patrick Swazye has been treated with targeted low dose chemotherapy, The Kinder, Gentler Cancer Treatment (Insulin Potentiation Therapy.)? It works! People should go with this first rather than try to kill their bodies first.
Max
June 4th, 2009
10:34 pm
To all those passing negative comments about this article because of the fact that people you know had pancreatic cancer but none of the risk factors – firstly Dr. Kooby here is only listing the risk factors issued by the National Cancer Institute, he didn’t come up with them himself. Secondly, he himself mentions in this article that many people who get this type of factors have none of the risk factors. Nobody can tell for certain how a particular cancer came to be. Risk factors just make you statistically more likely to get the cancer.
thank you
June 4th, 2009
10:55 pm
My mother died of pancreatic cancer. It is a horrible disease. We need more education. The more the better.
P.S. She loved sweets. I think it was the sugar and a stressed immune system.
Holly
June 4th, 2009
10:56 pm
My sister was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was 60,a former smoker,Her symptom was jaundice. She had whipple procedure,showed she had stage 4 , she had 2 chemoembolizations, 5 rounds of different kinds of Chemo, and it spread to liver. She passed away in 18 months.No one else in the family has ever had this disease.
Rule .303
June 4th, 2009
11:22 pm
I stand corrected, as several posters have pointed out, Swayze was a heavy smoker. My apologies.
wilem
June 5th, 2009
9:07 am
the reason cancer is reaching younger people is because we keep saving the weak, thus polluting the gene pool and producing weaker people with every new generation. I have cancer now and i am 41 been getting screwed by it for 8 years.
the only treatment for cancer will be the discovery of how to turn the immune system on it and that is coming soon.
the eating of junk as we all do isnt helping matters either.
Angela
June 5th, 2009
10:16 am
My mother had pancreatic cancer. She held on for 7 months. First through her 49th anniversary to Daddy, then Thanksgiving and Christmas and then past my daughter’s b-day in Jan. All out of shear determination. She had 2 of the risk factors. Had been smoking since she was 12, died at 69. Taught my children a very sad lesson. Thanks for all the attention to this vile disease, and more power to anyone facing it.
Pat
June 5th, 2009
11:17 am
My sister lost her battle with this horrible disease just after her 52nd birthday and just 3 weeks after diagnosis. She had been ill for months with what she had been told was pancreatitis but not cancer and then finally accurate diagnosis and boom, 3 weeks later gone. I pray that research can provide better diagnostics because I feel like if my sis had been properly diagnosed in the beginning, treatment might at least have bought her a little more time with her family. It has been almost 5 years and I still grieve her loss!!!
Renza
June 5th, 2009
11:22 am
One thing is for sure…….almost everyone has a cancer story. I am surrounded by it on all sides. Sometimes there is a risk factor and sometimes none. I agree that cancer can strike when there are no risk factors but I do believe that we could do so much to help ourselves with eliminating stress and poor eating.
I lost my dear,82 year old father-in-law to pancreatic cancer on he and my mother-in-law’s 50th anniversary. Dr.Kooby attempted the whipple proceedure but it was too late. That was March 1st and his first symptoms did not present until February. I look at pancreatic cancer as a silent, calculating thief that stole this precious man from us without warning. Dr. Kooby treated my father-in-law with such great respect and honor during his treatment. I believe that Dr.Kooby has a burden for families who are caught off-guard by this horrible disease and probably gets the question all time ” how could this be?” Take this article as it is. It is truly an attemp to cause awarness. I don’t believe he is trying to be a hero or know-it-all. He just wants to get people talking and sharing.
Cancer stinks! How can a 42 yr old woman be diagnosed with colon cancer when she is told she doesn’t need a colonoscopy until she is 50 and has no warning or risk? It just is. Don’t kill the messenger. Warn those that you love and care about.
Kimberly
June 5th, 2009
11:53 am
Did Patrick Swaze smoke cigarettes? In Roadhouse, he was smoking.
Tina
June 5th, 2009
3:54 pm
Yes, Patrick Swaze smokes…and still does smoke to this every day. That I just don’t understand. I have known a few people with this disease and they have not made it past 6 months after diagnosis. The fact that he is still here is really just short of remarkable!!!!
Kelly
June 5th, 2009
4:38 pm
My father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer at 56. He was diagnosed in Feb 2004 and died 04/04/04. He was a Vietnam Veteran and was treated through the Veteran’s Hospital. Although he was part of a study and was followed more closely because of that, he went very fast. He was having digestion problems in and had his gall bladder removed before they finally diagnosed him. He is with me every day.<3 William Edgar Herndon Jr. <3
Michelle
June 5th, 2009
5:17 pm
I agree with many of you who feel that cancer is largely in part due to what we put into our bodies. If we would pay attention to what we put into our bodies and stop with the junk food and processed foods so much and replaced them with fresh fruits and veggies you would be amazed at how much better your health would be. I know that all cases are different but I know that you can’t go wrong by changing your diet. Everything I have read about cancer goes back to cancer can not live in an alkaline environment, only in an acidic environment. There are even chemotherapy treatments that are based on this. What this means in short is your body chemistry should be alkaline which means more oxygen in your body. Unfortunately in our fast paced lives today this is very hard to do as we eat so much fast food as well as processed foods and these things are very acidic. Also think about what we drink. Sodas as well as coffee, tea and lets not forget alcohol are all very acidic. We should have a make up of about 20% acidic foods and 80% alkaline foods to keep a healthy balance. Just read about an acidic PH and make up your own mind. This info is not mentioned much when people talk of health problems but I believe that when your PH is acidic that that is when you can set yourself up for health problems and believe you me, we are all too acidic.
john
June 5th, 2009
6:35 pm
Yet when we go to the grocery store vegetable section and see stuff from China, Vietnam, guatemala, and whatever foreign country the USA can import from to save bucks for the greedy industry here. Now how safe can it possibly be to eat a piece of fruit imported from a foreign country when we know their quality control isn’t ANYTHING like ours? And even if it were, how long is the fruit enroute, where is it stored, how hot does it get when it’s stored, what does it endure while enroute, and etc, before we get it? And this is safe? I absolutely refuse to purchase fruit/veggies from a foreign country. It can rot in the bins for all I care because it is not healthy IMV.
Then think of the pesticides constantly sprayed on our fruits/veggies that are grown in this country. This is safe? Not IMO.
if you’re going to switch to fresh fruit/veggies, my suggestion is plow yourself a small garden and grow your own if you want to get truly safe, non-carcinogenic food to eat.
Really
June 5th, 2009
7:23 pm
OK. To all those who are tyring to play doctor and push the latest UNPROVEN fads and diets and hypotheses, you are doing the general public a huge disfavor. Don’t you think that medical researchers WANT to cure this disease?–if not for altruistic reasons (mostly true), but for selfish reasons (Nobel prize, fame, money, etc). If there were any truth to any of these home remedies, then they will be tested. Once tested, the results will be published. Then other people will attempt to replicate these results. If these positive results holdup, then everyone will know that these treatments are real and effective. Please do not push untested treatments and let those who spend their lives finding a cure for cancer do what they do.
BJo
June 5th, 2009
7:39 pm
My brother passed on early this morning. Not from pancreatic cancer but a malignant brain tumor that was brought on by years of heavy smoking. It started in his lung, which they successfully treated, but part broke off and ended up in his brain. He went through many sessions of chemo and radiation. Still the result was the same. Yes it added some more time to his life but at what cost. My question is this. Why, as one blogger pointed out, has research used $105 billion to fine a cure when almost on a regular basis you hear or read about some promising new treatment and then nothing after that. The one on 60 Minutes last year is one example. There are many more I’ve seen throughout the years. My point is if there is ever a cure for cancer, its going to put a lot of people out of business.
db
June 5th, 2009
9:54 pm
the cancer treatment center of america has been successful in treating pancreatic cancer. it needs to get more recognition.
RY
June 6th, 2009
8:58 am
Swayze got in to a legal mess a few years back when he crashed his private plane. Some construction workers nearby helped him unload opened bottles of alcohol and hide them. They told the FAA he appeared to be inebriated. During his subsequent interview with FAA officials a couple days later, he admitted to a 3 pack a day smoking habit which may have led to poor air quality in the plane’s cabin. You can find the official FAA report online.
Winfield J. Abbe
June 6th, 2009
8:58 am
There are a number of secondary causes of cancer that all merge into one prime cause, oxygen deficiency to living cells over a long period of time. For example, certain chemicals cause cancer. It is well known that asbestos causes cancer. Even some chemotherapy chemicals cause cancer. Various chemicals in smoke also cause cancer.
High energy radiation causes cancer. When one has a mammogram, for example, this is using high energy radiation into the breasts. Squeezing the breasts hard, as they do in this procedure, can also spread any cancer around. This was first reported in the medical literature in about 1928, but has been disregarded by the negligent medical doctors performing mammograms. There is a non zero probability of initiating cancer from a single mammogram for example. Dr. Samuel Epstein, M.D. has published an article about other ways to self examine oneself for lumps that are not as dangerous as mammograms. But the ultimate effect of chemicals and radiation is to diminish the oxygen supply to living cells which then results in cancer as proved from experiments and facts in the laboratory by the genius in Germany Otto Warburg, M.D., Ph.D., decades ago. Some have mentioned the wrong foods. The FDA has betrayed the American Public by approving many foods that have been adulterated by chemicals and addititives and processes to extend shelf life, but which have had vital nutrients removed that are reponsible for efficient oxygen transfer across cell walls so the oxygen can do its job of providing the vital energy necessary for cell operation. For example, most “foods” today do not have the necessary essential fatty acids which, as Peskin and Habib have emphasized in the book above, are like “oxygen magnets” to aid the oxygen transfer into cells. When the oxygen transfer is inhibited for a long period of time by about one third, the cell becomes cancerous. This can happen to any cell in any organ of the body, from the skin to any internal organ like the breast, prostate or liver or pancreas, or even deep inside a bone. But in all cases, the cause is the same, respiratory impairment or oxygen deficiency to living cells, or the wrong energy supply. If all oxygen to the living body is removed, it dies very quickly (in minutes). If all oxygen is removed from any cell it dies very quickly too. It oxygen is deprived from living cells by about one third, some cells die for lack of energy, but those that survive switch to running on glucose in the absence of oxygen (anerobically). This process is called fermentation is the way all primitive life existed before the appearence of oxygen on the earth. Only after the appearence of oxygen did the higher living forms appear, man and the higher animals. Only oxygen energy is capable of differentiation of living cells as Dr. Warburg has emphasized over and over again. All cancer is is the manifestation of the reverse of cell metabolism when oxygen is removed or deprived, back to the primitive form; fermentation, where cells possess no intelligence but only useless, mindless, growth, like yeast cells for example. All this is so scientifically consistent and beatiful it is amazing how the medical orthodoxy has denied it all. Dr. Warburg published about 500 scientific papers in his lifetime, but most “scientists”, the cancer generals and medical doctors obviously have not read them. Instead, they have negligently obstructed and sought to misrepresent his scientific findings from experiments and facts, not genetic speculations. It is this scientific misconduct on their part, of course, why they have so miserably failed to solve the cancer problem despite the enormous amount of public and private dollars squandered by them on their non scientific “research” and quack treatments.
The cancer generals claim, without proof, that cancer is caused by mutated genes because they observe some mutated genes in tumor tissue. But genes can become mutated from the wrong energy supply. Therefore, the mutated genes observed by the cancer generals evidently are a result, not a cause of cancer, resulting from oxygen deficiency to living cells as observed by Dr. Warburg and his genius level associates in his laboratory decades ago. By the way Dr. Warburg was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1931 for his work on cell respiration and was nominated for two other Nobel prizes too, the first cancer prize in 1926 and another for different work in 1944, though the latter two were not awarded. Three of his pupils also were awarded the Nobel prize in medicine, Hans Krebs, Hugo Theorell and Otto Meyerhof, shared with others. Here is another reference:
“Otto Warburg Cell Physiologist Biochemist and Eccentric” by Hans Krebs, M.D. and Roswitha Schmid, Ph.D., Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1981.
Dr. Warburg was a genius level scientist far above any living today. He was at the level of Issac Newton, Galileo Galilei or Albert Einstein. In fact, he was a close friend of Einstein.
The cancer generals must not only be fired, but prosecuted for scientific misconduct, fraud, medical quackery and crimes against humanity.
Winfield J. Abbe
June 6th, 2009
9:20 am
As a post script to the above comments, even cancer of the heart organ is possible but most people have never heard of it because it is very rare. You can confirm with any oncologist or surgeon how rare it is.
It is very rare because there is always plenty of oxygen in the heart from the highly oxygenated blood passing through it constantly, so there is almost no deprivation of oxygen to cells there, and therefore no tendency for them to be deprived of oxygen for any time and thus become cancerous. This is fully consistent with the fact that heart cancer is very rarely observed. One would have expected this.
Another point is that once the transformation from ordinary oxygen based metabolism has switched to glucose (sugar) based metabolism, fermentation, the change is irreversible. In other words, it is not possible to reverse cancer to “normal” by simply adding back oxygen to a cancerous cell as many medical doctors have falsely sought to misrepresent Dr. Warburg about. Obviously these doctors and cancer generals did not read the many papers of Dr. Warburg on this subject and, if they did read them, did not understand them. The only recourse when cancer has fully developed is to kill or remove the cancerous tissue. It is like trying to “unfry” an egg. Once heat is added to an egg to fry or scramble it, it is impossible to reverse the process, and by removal of heat alone, reestablish the state of the egg before it was fried. This is called an irreversible thermodynamic process in physics and chemistry. As Dr. Warburg stated and proved in his laboratory, called the “Palace of Cell Physiology” in Germany, fully established cancer runs on anerobic glycolysis, fermentation, and is irreversible (not reversible). However, it might be reversible during the transition between normal oxygen based metabolism and glucose based anerobic metabolism. Such cells have been observed and were called “sleeping cancer cells” by Dr. Warburg.
Patty Prime
June 7th, 2009
1:01 am
My husband died 60 days after being given the bad news that he hAD STAGE 4 bILE DUCT CANCER. tHE DOCTORS GAVE HIM NO HELP WITH TREATMENT. ONE DAY HE WAS FINE AND THE NEXT DAY HE HAD A BACK ACHE. THE DOCTORS SAID THAT HE HAD CANCER FOR A LONG TIME. WHAT IS A LONG TIME. HOW LONG WAS THIS CANCER EATING AWAY AT HIM? HE WAS 55.
Christina
June 7th, 2009
2:51 am
Winfield,
I think what you have brought up is very interesting. I’m still unsure of how to ‘treat’ cancer, despite the cause. You say to still remove it, so still chemo/radiation, etc?
Also, many people experience oxygen deprivation to the whole body or only one organ but do not develop cancer. Why do some develop cancer after oxygen deprivation and others don’t? Is there a way to prevent the oxygen deprivation that creates cancer cells?
Winfield J. Abbe
June 7th, 2009
6:06 am
The scientific method that one assumes all “scientists” voluntarily comply with, involves a number of basic principles: Intellectual honesty, open mindedness, the ability to reproduce experimental results of others at different locations and different times, precision and accuracy in data calculations, the logical rules of mathematics, and following the laws of physics and chemistry and acknowledging the earlier experimental and theoretical work of others, lack of conflicts of interest, etc. There is no universal “police department” to force scientists to comply with the rules. Normally one would assume that no true scientists, especially one doing science for the benefit of mankind in medical research, would violate the rules. But when you read the referemces I have provided above, and many others, you find indeed some of them have been violating the rules, and that is why the war on cancer has failed so miserably. Space here does not permit a full elucidation and proof of how these scientists and “cancer generals” of the war on cancer have violated all the rules of science in the sqandering of trillions of public and private dollars for the past almost 40 years. All concerned citizens must read the above references and many others for the proof of this claim. I agree this type of reading is not much fun and not very inspiring of the human spirit.
Issac Newton and Galileo GAlilei were genius level scientists who lived almost 4 centuries ago. Galileo Galilei basically taught us and set the rules for the scientific method that all true scientists follow today. These great scientists made seminal discoveries in many areas of physics, especially, the laws of gravitation and the motions of bodies. Just because these dicoveries were made long ago does not make them any less valid than discoveries made yesterday or only one century ago. They are just as valid today as the day they were published. Suppose the engineers of today denied and failed to comply with them. Our planes would not fly, our buildings would collapse, the space shuttle would explode or crash, our ships would sink, etc. In short our civilization would not exist in the present form. One pays a heavy price when one denies the laws of physics and chemistry proved from experiments and facts following the scientific method in the laboratory as Galileo Galilei taught us to do, and Issac Newton taught us to do, and all the other subsequent great scientists too.
Again space does not permit a full elucidation here about why the war on cancer is such a dismal failure despite the expenditure of billions of public and private dollars. A large part of the problem is that the money of pharmaceutical companies has created enormous conflicts of interest between the dictum to follow the rules of science on the one hand, or follow the desires and whims of the pharmaceutical companies to make money through the patenting process of drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are larger than government. They can buy virtually anything and everything they want. While it is true they have provided many good things to our civilization, the war on cancer is not one of them.
After the squandering of multi billions of public and private dollars, still, about one person every minute dies in the U.S. either from cancer, treatment or both, usually treatment. Unfortunately or fortunately, as the case may be, there is usually no autopsy, let alone a true and objective one after a cancer patient dies while under “treatment”, to prove the exact and true cause of death. But all approved medical cancer treatments in the U.S. are life threatening. No patient will be treated without having first signed a waiver, expempting the doctor from legal liability. So one could have just as well died of the treatment rather than the disease and often do. But most doctors in charge will claim, and most newspapers will report, falsely, that a cancer patient under treatment who dies, died of the cancer rather than the treatment. They will usually say “sorry, we did our best”. But if you read the above references, you will realize that no, they did not do their best at all.
Many years ago a distinguished professor of medical physics and physiology and an expert in medical statistics at UC Berkeley, the late Hardin Jones, Ph.D., proved that cancer patients who did not receive the orthodox treament of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation lived up to 4 times longer than those who did receive such treatments! Little has changed today. The best way to fool people is with statistics. Do you remember what Mark Twain said about statistics: “There are lies, ….lies and statistics”. But after all is said and done, we all know the dismal failure of the cancer generals and the war on cancer. No other group in society would have been so indulged in failure as the cancer generals have been over the years. The time is long overdue that they be removed from their undeserved positions of power in the institutes of health of the United States, and replaced by some true scientists who are not conflicted and corrupted by the pharmaceutical companies and prejudice and failure to follow the scientific method.
When you read about cancer one thing becomes clear: Isn’t it better to prevent you house from burning down than to try to repair it after it has burned to the ground? “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. The problem is, that because the cancer generals have failed to follow the scientific method and denied the experiments and facts developed in Dr. Warburg’s and many other laboratories around the world, those in charge at the NIH, NCI and FCA do not or claim to not agree on the basic science of cancer, and therefore do not agree on how to prevent it. Suppose we did not agree on how to prevent houses from burning down? This is the core of the problem.
Furthermore, if these “scientists” called the cancer generals, many with Ph.D. degrees from “prestigious” institutions, cannot and do not accept the experiments and facts of Dr. WArburg about cancer, for whatever reason, honest or corrupt, they then cannot agree on a means to prevent and study the various ways to prevent and treat the disease once developed in the body. It seems so simple doesn’t it? If cancer is caused by oxygen deficiency to living cells, all we have to do is make sure there is plenty of oxygen to all cells don’t we? End of story and no money for the drug companies. Unfortunately it is not that simple. As any medical doctor will tell you, the system of the human body responsible for providing necessary oxygen to every one of the roughly 100 trillion cells of the human body is called the respiratory system. This system is responsible for distributing that oxygen breathed into your lungs and transferred to your red blood cells throughout all the arteries of your body, to every cell in every organ even down deep inside every bone! This is an enormously difficult and complex job. AFter all you don’t have a blood vessel next to every cell do you? Therefore, how does the oxygen get from a blood vessel to a remote cell in the prostate gland or the breast or the pancreas or the liver or the bone in your big toe? The oxygen molecules leave the blood at the arteries and move about inside your body by a physics process called diffusion. When those oxygen molecules get near certain living cells, they then must get through the cell wall which is usually made of materials including essentially fatty acids, fatty material that attracts oxygen very much like a dead fish attracts oxygen and quickly becomes rancid (smells bad). Once the oxygen is inside the cell, it then provides the energy for the cell to operate in a myriad of complex biochemical processes. This complex process continues continuously in time for the life of every human or living being. Without Mother oxygen, no life as we know it is possible. But suppose the cancer generals, in charge of the war on cancer, and who dole out the government money to study it, deny the experiments and facts proving that when inadequate amounts of oxygen are provided to any cell in your body, it becomes malignant? They won’t study this subject in the proper way and discover both how to prevent cancer and how to treat it when it develops into a clinical, observable disease. This is why the war on cancer is a dismal failure and why the prejudiced cancer generals must be fired and replaced by others who will read the experiments and facts reported in the 500 scientific papers of Otto Warburg and acknowledge them and act on that knowledge, rather than denying that knowledge. Much more emphasis must be placed on prevention since it is so difficult to prevent cancer once it has developed inside the human body. However, there is additional knowledge that the cancer generals have also denied and obstructed, that is useful for treating the disease, but it also has not been legitimately studied because the cancer generals have obstructed its study.
It has been known since about 1969 that vitamin C kills cancer cells at high doses. We even understand exactly how this process works; the vitamin C produces hydrogen peroxide inside the cancer cell which then kills the cancer cell. This was proved as early as 1957. This is really the “magic bullet” one has “searched” for for decades to treat cancer, but because of prejudice of the cancer generals against it, corrupted by the pharmaceutical companies agsinst it since they wouldn’t make any money since vitamin C is a natural substance, they have not studied this substance in the treatment of cancer in the proper scientific fashion. Indeed, it has been used to treat advanced cancer patients very successfully. A reference is provided below.
In summary then, first one must prevent cancer at all costs. This must be done in a variety of ways: Avoid all secondary causes of cancer as one avoids secondary causes of the plague, rats and filth. With cancer it means avoiding cancer causing chemicals, high energy radiation and poisons in our environment that cause cancer by in turn impairing oxygen to cells. It means taking into our bodies the “right” nutrients that aid in oxygen transfer into our cells, like eating foods that contain the essential fatty acids that aid in oxygen tranfer and taking vitamins and minerals that enhance the efficiency of the respiratory system. It means placing pressure on our government officials and elected officials to take their heads out of the sand and stop rewarding failure by the failed cancer generals of the war on cancer and replace them with others who will follow the true scientific method in the study of this horrible disease. One thing is certain. The cure is not around the next billion dollar corner as they would have us believe every spring at fund raising time, especially when no fundamental changes are made in the corrupt, failed non leadership by the non scientists running the NIH, NCI and FDA who have failed so miserably and dismally for so many years. Would you continue to pay a car mechanic over and over and over again for failure and then not even demand your money back? Have you ever heard of a medical doctor treating a patient with the only approved cancer treatment in the U.S., who may have even killed the patient from the treatment, offering to refund the money charged by that doctor and hospital for the quack treatment? I never have. People must wake up, read up and speak up or nothing will ever change. This is why I have said not only must the cancer generals be fired immediately, they must be prosecuted for scientific misconduct, fraud, medical quackery and crimes against humanity. If we had had 40 years of true scientific research on this subject, following the experiments and facts elucidated by Dr. Warburg, M.D., Ph.D., we would likely be on the fast trac to prevent this horrible disease today, and possibly even cure it too. However, we must put an end to the failed non science of the medical orthdoxy today.
Even if you don’t know or understand anything else, over half a million dead victims every year means FAILURE by any standard does it not?
“Cancer and Vitamin C Therapy for Patients” by Reagan Houston, M.S., P.E., Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Aug./SEpt., 2007.
“Cancer-Its Cause, Prevention and Cure” by John P. Dobbins, Sc.D., Cytobiologische Revue, No. 3, pp. 123-134, 1985.
Winfield J. Abbe, Ph.D., Physics
150 Raintree Ct.
Athens, GA 30607
Note: None of the criticisms made above are intended to apply to the medical doctor in the above article.
Peggy
June 7th, 2009
11:55 pm
My husband had pancreatic cancer; Dr. Kooby was his doctor. He was diagnosed on Jun 12, 2008 and died on June 19, 2008. He was 38 years old and had none of the known risk factors; in fact one month prior to his illness he was running 10 K races. Pancreatic cancer is a terrible, horrible disease. I think if we really want to beat pancreatic cancer we have to get the word out–to our friends, family, neighbors, etc and urge them to do what they can to increase research for diagnosis and treatment. There are ways to help at http://www.pancan.org.
Jane
June 8th, 2009
2:34 am
What an interesting load of comments. I lost a cousin to this disease-pancreatic cancer. She was 62 and died exactly 6 months after the doctor said she had 6 months to live. Didn’t do my MS any good either -the knowledge. My brother has had pancreatitis a couple of times would this put him at risk?
NavyMom
June 8th, 2009
3:11 am
OMG – I’m so pleased and shocked to see Dr. Kooby’s article as I have an appointment with him this week. He is THE BEST doctor I have ever met. He removed a non malignang tumor from my pancreas six years ago. He is the most caring and polite doctor / surgeon I have ever met.
Also I would like to add that I am 41 and when I was diagnosed I wasn’t overweight, a smoker or heavy drinker – PEOPLE PLEASE TAKE THIS SERIOUS. I am having another bout with pancreatitis now and I don’t meet any of the criteria other than being African American.
@Peggy so sorry to hear of your loss. I am praying all goes well with me this week and I don’t have another mass / cancer.
Charlotte
June 8th, 2009
3:27 pm
Why is it that we give so much money for cancer research and yet there is no absolute cure? We are giving millions and billions of dollars each year for cancer research and there is no cure! My father passed away of Pancreatic Cancer in 1999, and yet there is still no cure. Are we as Americans being duped by the scientists and BIG Pharma? Honestly, let’s really consider this issue. Think of the billions of dollars that are raised for breast cancer each year. Why hasn’t there been a cure yet for breast cancer? You mean to tell me that the most richest and most technological country on the face of the earth can’t find a cure for any cancer? Something is terribly wrong. Sir Winfield J. Abbe, THANK YOU! Thank You for your knowledge and wisdom regarding this subject matter.
George
June 8th, 2009
4:35 pm
Since the medical aspect of this disease, why it happens, and what might prevent it, has already been blogged extensively by much smarter people than me, I felt I should give you my personal experience with the author, Dr. Kooby.
I was diagnosed with pancriatic cancer 13 months ago. Dr. Kooby performed a Whipple on me on July 16th of 2008. I had 12 sessions of chemo after that. Other than weight loss (40 lbs, from 165 to 125), and an extremely painful couple of months while my digestive system got used to it’s re-arrangement, everything is going fine.
I can, however, unequivocally say one thing. Dr. Kooby is an extremely talented surgeon and, in my opinion, and just as important, an extremely caring and dedicated individual (how many Doctors do you know would give you their cell phone number and tell you to call them any time). During my long surgery he and his staff kept my wife and our son well informed during their nerve racking wait, calling them several times with updates from the operating room. He was extremely compassionate with me, and more importantly, with my family. It made things a lot easier for all of us.
If you, or anyone you know gets this awful disease, make an appointment with Dr. Kooby.
By the way, tomorrow is my birthday. I made it to 63!, and thanks to Dr. Kooby, his staff,and the great people at Emory, plan on celebrating many, many, more.
AJ
June 9th, 2009
4:22 pm
My mother-in-law was just diagnosed yesterday (6/8) with Pancreatic Cancer at at age 77. She ate nothing but organic foods and did not smoke. Our family is in shock because she is so active and eats very healthy. We do not know what stage she is in because they are still running test. My heart and prayers are with everyone who has or knows any person with Pancreatic Cancer.
Sherry
June 10th, 2009
1:18 pm
My mother died of Pancreatic Cancer Feb. 2008. 2 months after she started feeling symptoms, Abdominal pain, heartburn, back pain. She was a smoker for many years. She thought she had an ulcer. Catscan showed Pancreatic cancer, had spread to her liver and lymph nodes, 2 wks after official diagnosis she died. This was the hardest thing I have ever went though, so painfull to watch her painful suffering. This cancer is a nightmare.
Sherry
June 10th, 2009
2:00 pm
I forgot to mention she was only 64.
Sherry
June 10th, 2009
2:02 pm
I didn’t mention above that my mother was only 64.
Rob
June 10th, 2009
2:59 pm
Part of the reason cancer hasn’t been cured is that there is too much money in keeping it around. Fact: the American Cancer Society is the largest medically related charity in the U.S. and it’s executives make a very comfortable living. It was reported on NPR a few years ago that former staff members have made the accusation that many promising cures researched by the ACS have been quashed before ever reaching large scale clinical trials. Why do you suppose that is? Add to that the money made by the pharmaceutical firms in supplying chemotherapy drugs and you have a pretty strong motive for making sure that cancer is never cured.
Wanda
June 10th, 2009
3:40 pm
If you or a family member have recently been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer please make an appt. with Dr. Kooby. What a caring Dr. His staff was wonderful also.
BOBBI
June 11th, 2009
12:44 pm
We lost a very loving friend of the family also, she never drank or smoked. She exercised and at the age of 60 could still wear a string bikini. In addition she was white female, so the article doesnt help us. She fought and survived more than a year more then the men in white coats gave her.