Integrated Cancer Treatment in the Course of Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer: Complete Resolution in 2 Cases
ABSTRACT
Pancreatic cancer (PC) has a very low average survival, but its prognosis is further reduced in the case of metastatic spread. Medical therapy in these cases is the only applicable methodology in the international guidelines. During anticancer treatments, common side effects are nausea, vomiting, arthralgia, neuropathy, and alopecia as well as a myelosuppressive effect. The toxicity of various drugs not only affects the quality of life of the patient, but often its severity requires a reduction in if not the termination of drug administration. Scientific studies have shown that a combined use of chemotherapy and certain natural substances, in the form of standardized extracts, can lead to an enhancement of the action of the chemotherapy. Here, we describe 2 cases of metastatic PC. The first case concerns the integrated treatment of a patient with cancer of the pancreas tail with metastatic involvement ab initio of peripancreatic lymph nodes and liver parenchyma, with numerous secondary lesions greater than 9.5 cm. The second case concerns the integrated treatment of a patient with cancer of the pancreatic body with metastatic involvement of the liver parenchyma, with a small secondary lesion. In both cases, an integrated cancer treatment approach, combining chemotherapy with natural remedies, extracts, and hyperthermia, induced a notable remission of primary and metastatic lesions.