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Cancer is a huge business. There is no doubt about that. But did you know that the treatment your doctors prescribe may not reduce, but rather increase the chances that you will become their regular „customer“?
Conventional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy actually promote cancer.
Yes, you read that correctly: they promote cancer!
Risks of secondary tumors
The media often present cancer as an illness that is increasingly becoming survivable.
Nevertheless, the therapies used to treat it cause significant side effects or even direct harm – including new, secondary tumors.
Secondary tumors are tumors that have nothing to do with the original finding and are induced by the imbalance or directly by the substances that led to the primary cancer.
Doctors even sometimes call them „friendly fire“ – meaning therapy for one type of cancer triggers another cancer.
Here, however, a fundamental question arises:
How on earth can doctors prescribe such treatment without even telling the patient that the treatment itself carries an extremely high risk of causing another cancer?
How long has it been known that chemotherapy and radiation induce new cancer?
The link between chemotherapy, radiation and the development of secondary cancer has been known for decades!
Even the American Cancer Society (the counterpart of the Czech League Against Cancer) admits that radiotherapy and chemotherapy are carcinogenic and can increase the risk of secondary cancer.
The cancer risk is even higher when chemotherapy and radiation are applied simultaneously.
Nevertheless, patients are usually not informed of this, or if they are, oncologists tend to significantly downplay it.
Chemotherapy and secondary cancer
Chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cancer cells but also significantly affects healthy cells. The risk is directly proportional to the number of doses and the duration of therapy.
Among the types of cancer most commonly induced by chemotherapy are:
- AML (acute lymphatic leukemia)
- MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome)
A perfect example of this risk is a morning news anchor on the ABS „Good Morning America“ television station who was recently diagnosed with MDS.
Radiotherapy and secondary cancer
Besides the well-known association between radiation and cancer (as with Chernobyl or Fukushima), a connection is becoming apparent between cancer and radiation from diagnostic and therapeutic devices.
These include, for example, mammograms, X-rays, CT scans and also irradiation devices used in radiotherapeutic cancer treatment.
Radiation not only destroys cancer cells, but also significantly damages healthy ones.
Radiation is most associated with the following types of secondary cancer:
- lung cancer
- stomach cancer
- bone marrow cancer
- various types of leukemia (acute and chronic myeloid leukemia, all types of lymphoblastic leukemia)
More facts about chemotherapy, radiation and secondary types of cancer
In addition to the facts already mentioned, the following should be noted:
- Alkylating-agent-based chemotherapy damages cell DNA and leads to acute forms of leukemia.
- Non-alkylating types of chemotherapy attack cancer cells in a similar way and also increase the risk of leukemia. The risk depends on the amount of exposure, duration and the combination of radiation with chemotherapy.
- Leukemia usually occurs in as little as 2 to 3 years after undergoing chemotherapy or radiation.
- Drugs for melanoma can induce carcinomas of the skin’s epithelial cells.
- Patients on immunosuppressive drugs, for example after organ transplantation, can also develop secondary cancer.
- Radiation for breast cancer significantly increases the risk of lung cancer.
- Radiation for prostate cancer increases the risk of bladder and colon carcinomas.
- Chemotherapy for breast cancer and lymphomas increases the risk of bladder cancer.
- Chemotherapy in general can lead to testicular and ovarian cancer.
- Chemotherapy given to children lays the foundation for the development of additional cancers during adolescence and adulthood.
- Bone marrow transplantation increases the risk of secondary cancers as a result of the use of immunosuppressants.
Conclusion
While secondary tumors can have various causes, chemotherapy and radiation clearly rank at the top of their list.
Exposure to chemotherapy and radiation thus creates an undue risk of additional secondary cancers, which are moreover usually already resistant to further treatment with these therapies.
