Curing and carcinogenic chemo-and radiotherapy
(The role of polysaccharides in decreasing the harmful side effects) The anticancer struggle’s three most important tools are surgery in order to remove tumour cells and chemo-and radiotherapy. Chemo-and radiotherapy is able to harm and destroy the quickly dividing cells just like cancer cells.
The chemo-and radiotherapy’s side effects on blood-forming organs are well known which come from their effects on dividing cells. It’s less known that besides the curable and anticancer effects chemo-and radiotherapy it has carcinogenic effects as well. This side effects appear only years later. According to a lately published big-sized experiment (13136 participants) children treated from a tumour are later endangered by tumours typical in adulthood. The experiment’s curiosity is that in significant part of people (59% of 42 diseased) who fall back the tumour appeared where the radiotherapy commenced previously.
In the case of women who survived Hodgkin’s disease the probability of breast cancer increased depending on the dose of the radiotherapy. This danger can exist even after 25 years of treatment according to the examinations. It’s interesting that the danger of lung cancer was only higher in the first four years after chemotherapy while after radiotherapy this danger only appeared 5 years after the therapy but endangered the survivors 20 years after treatment as well.
In the case of breast cancer the radiotherapy’s intensity can increase the frequency of the formation of connective tissue tumours. The long term carcinogenic effect of radiotherapy can be increased significantly by the chemotherapy. Some studies examining the cases of children suffering from childhood tumours came to the same conclusion. Chemotherapy itself can increase the probability of returning of tumours. A new study examining the cases of people cured from non-Hodgkin’s disease according to which, chemotherapy can increase the frequency of the occurrence of leukaemia, lung and colon cancer in the long term.
We can mention as possible side effects of radiotherapy the stroke (in the case of skull radiation) and coronary artery disease. They also observed that the children who survived cancer have problems with their general state of health later than those who didn’t get chemo-and radiotherapy. They suffer from chronic diseases and their complications: for example returning pneumonia in the case of frequent breast radiation.
According to a study’s survey the quality of life of people cured from a childhood tumour is worse than their healthier mates’. (We will report about the peripheral nervous system harming side effects of chemo-and radiotherapy later.) Not only the anticancer radiotherapy can cause harmful side effects but also the imaging procedures (X-ray, CT). This is the reason why many studies examined how these carcinogenic effects offset the fact that we know the formation of cancer in time and surviving the lives.
According to a study the lung CT systematic usage is only suggested for smokers, it’s not suggested to non-smokers and for those who stopped smoking. It’s debated as in the case of non-smokers its carcinogenic effect outshines its cancer detecting benefits. In the case of tumour-free women the systematic low dose radiation can increase the probability of the formation of breast cancer. The breast is one of the most vulnerable parts of the body to which radiotherapy can be carcinogen. Despite that they assume that the usage of these imaging tools, their cancer detecting benefits offset this breast cancer increasing effect due to the systematic radiation.
Of course doctors can be endangered too. An Italian study states that for example orthopaedists can be endangered as they are extended to the radiation of these tools. Another study came to the conclusion that cardiologists can be twofold more endangered than radiologists themselves so the keeping of safety standards is very important. People assume the radiation’s direct DNS harming, carcinogenic effect may exist in an indirect carcinogenic effect as tumours can appear on parts of the body which were not irradiated decades after the treatments. This indirect harming effect is called ‘bystander’ effect. Researchers don’t agree on its cause so far but they assume the radiation’s genome destabilisation effect.
Radiation can induce the damaging and breaking of the chromosomes directly. It’s a new recognition that ‘hidden genetic instability’ (for example instinct to genetic damage to the effect of different toxins) can increase the risks of the formation of secondary tumours in the case of people suffering from head and neck tumours mainly, if a certain growth factor (IGF) level increased. The survival time of people inclined to genetic damage is low, for example in the presence of a not small cell lung cancer treated with chemo-and radiotherapy.
The newest scientific examinations strengthen that certain polysaccharides can decrease the radiation’s harmful side effects significantly. In ‘in vivo’ animal experiments the survival time of animals taking special polysaccharides and who were radiated in huge dose increased significantly. It was proved about the polysaccharides which decrease the side effects of irradiation that they have genetic damage hindering and liver protecting effects which affect the healthy cells: maybe their beneficial effect is based on these. The high quality special polysaccharide extracts can decrease the chemo-and radiotherapy’s long term harmful genetic stock endangering, carcinogen effects.
Author: Gábor Varga, drug expert
