This is a headline you should but aren’t going to be seeing splashed across any major newspapers anytime soon: SURVIVAL RATE FOR SOME CANCERS IMPROVES DRAMATICALLY WITH HOMEOPATHIC TREATMENT. The fact is that two studies presented at the 2009 and 2010 Annual Conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology have shown just that.1 What makes these reports even more remarkable is that the research was done with patients suffering from some of the most lethal types of cancer.
In the first study, 1 year, 3 year and 5 year survival rates for patients with pancreatic, liver, gall bladder and stomach cancers treated homeopathically showed significant increases compared to those treated conventionally. For instance, conventionally treated liver cancer has a 1-year survival rate of 20%, and a 3-year survival rate of only 5%.2 The patients in this study had an 81% survival rate after one year, 59% after 3 years, and 43% after 5 years.
Similarly, pancreatic cancer, usually considered the most lethal major type of malignancy, has a 5-year survival rate of 2% for patients diagnosed with stage III and IV when treated conventionally. The homeopathic patients had a 38.6% survival rate.
The research was conducted over a period of 8 years in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Criteria to be eligible for the study was threefold: a confirmed malignancy, an inoperable tumor, and no prior radiation or chemotherapy.
The therapy provided focused on the daily administration of the homeopathic medicine Psorinum over a period of two years. In addition, other homeopathic medicines and allopathic interventions such as blood transfusions and stents were used secondarily as supportive care to manage various symptoms that arose during the course of treatment.
Equally impressive is the fact that 33% of the stage III patients had a ‘complete response’, which was defined as the complete disappearance of all targeted lesions without disease progression or any new lesions. In the Stage IV patients, a little over 10% had a complete response.
In addition, while there were none of the side effects associated with conventional cancer therapies, 60% of the Stage III patients and 45% of the Stage IV patients reported that the treatment effectively reduced various symptoms such as pain, breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting, fatigue, weakness, constipation and poor appetite.
Of course, aside from the avoidance of the toxic, immune depleting consequences of chemotherapy and radiation, there are enormous economic advantages. Homeopathic remedies are extremely cheap, running just a few pennies per day for long-term usage.
The second presentation by the same researchers at the 2010 conference was equally as remarkable. In another study using the same protocol with 95 patients diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, the 5-year survival rate was 44% compared to 16% treated conventionally. A complete response was achieved in 20% of the cases.
Based on the citations attached to the research article, the use of ‘Psorinum Therapy’ in cancer treatment has apparently been the subject of a number of studies for at least the last fifteen years. Research has shown that the remedy at this potency activates various cells of the immune system such as the T cells, macrophages and natural killer cells, and consequently triggers an anti-tumoral immune response.
While this therapeutic protocol apparently was developed over the last few decades, the remedy Psorinum itself has been used by homeopaths for nearly two centuries. It was created by Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of Homeopathy, from the pus discharge from a scabies eruption. As such, it is one of the original and fundamental nosodes – that is, a remedy derived from diseased tissue or discharge.
Hahnemann believed that the suppression of scabies by various symptomatic or topical treatments in remote antiquity brought about a deep-seated disturbance of the health of ancient peoples, and passed on from generation to generation, became the fundamental disposition of human beings toward chronic illness. He used the term Psora to denote this inherited disordered state of health (or ‘Miasm’). The creation of the remedy Psorinum was one of the methods by which he sought to treat these psoric patients.
There are many specific indications for the classical use of this remedy, the foremost of which are: very foul odor of the body and bodily discharges; great sensitivity to cold; insatiable hunger; extreme debility; itching, eruptions and a general unhealthy or ‘dirty’ look’ of the skin. In addition, these patients tend to feel much better lying down and keeping their limbs close to the sides of their body. They also have the peculiar tendency to feel unusually healthy the day before they come down with an acute illness.
Mentally, Psorinum patients tend to be pessimists, giving way to hopeless despair and anxiety. They feel themselves to be ‘losers’, forsaken of love, money and ambition to live happily.
Interestingly, while there are some indications that Psorinum was used by earlier homeopaths in the treatment of cancer, especially breast cancer, historically it was not considered one of the chief remedies to treat the disease. Clearly, that will now change.
1. Johnson, Chris, ND. “Research Breakthroughs: Homeopathy In Cancer Care”; Homeopathy Today, Summer 2011. 2. Aradeep Chatterjee, et al. “Psorinum Therapy in Treating Stomach, Gall Bladder, Pancreatic, and Liver Cancers: A Prospective Clinical Study”; Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, V. 2011 (2011), Article ID 724743