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A Systems-Based Approach to Cancer Types
A Systems-Based Approach to Cancer Types
Most treatments in allopathic medicine work by dealing strictly with specific tumors, removing them surgically, shrinking them with radiation, or killing them with chemotherapy. There also exist immunotherapies designed to support the immune system, and targeted therapies based on a “one gene, one drug” approach. Focusing on the tumor alone is not always enough to halt the cancer process, which can come with other adverse and severe side effects. Even after a tumor is removed, there is a significant chance of the cancer reoccurring. Conventional therapies almost always leave behind at least a small amount of malignant cancer cells.
It is important to keep in mind that every person has cancer cells in their body. We know there are mechanisms that keep these cells in check, which is why not everyone develops the disease. This is why the term “cancer” can sometimes be used in misleading ways, reducing a complex phenomenon to just the formation of a tumor.
So while conventional oncology has historically focused on tumors as the sites of cancer, integrative oncology - by contrast - looks at different terrains of the disease, thereby introducing the term cancerrain. In this paradigm, cancer is treated not as a tumor, but as a set of imbalances in bioregulation systems, which can result in the formation of tumors, among other things.
So while conventional oncology has historically focused on tumors as the sites of cancer, integrative oncology - by contrast - looks at different terrains of the disease, thereby introducing the term cancerrain. In this paradigm, cancer is treated not as a tumor, but as a set of imbalances in bioregulation systems, which can result in the formation of tumors, among other things.
Terrain theory suggests that a cancer can only survive in a specific microenvironment. If one were to transplant cancer cells into a healthy system, those cells would die, because they only thrive in places of weakness. Cancer can therefore be seen as a severe dysfunction of biological processes, and approached from multiple perspectives or terrains. These include mind, body, spirit, as well as socioeconomic and ecological factors. Just as life on earth functions within ecosystems, so too does the human body. We are a complex set of coordinated biochemical, thermal, and neurological factors that interact and cross-communicate with every system in the body and its environment.
When we look at the cancer process, besides the tumor we have to study everything else, so that we get as big a picture as possible and understand what factors might be contributing. Integrative oncology identifies and looks at ten different systems: environmental toxins, hormones, immunity, stress and biorhythms, genetics and epigenetics, circulation, inflammation, oxidation, microbiome, and blood sugar. If one of these systems is off, it will throw off all of the others as well. This is where we start to see the importance of bio-individuality.
In the allopathic paradigm, different patients with the same diagnosis can be approached with the same tumor-targeting treatment. Surgery, radiation or chemo are the only options that will be used, no matter what unique processes are taking place in each patient’s body.
Integrative oncology takes deeper steps, investigating different terrains and systems. An integrative approach would be directed at balancing a specific terrain’s microenvironment in order to get at whatever is preventing the body from dealing with out-of-control cancer cells.
These balancing needs can be vastly different even for patients of the same age with the same diagnosis. Everyone in the integrative paradigm is looked at individually, considering their life experiences, lifestyle, environment, socioeconomics, and ecology as factors that potentially contribute to cancer development.
A five-step plan helps to balance specific terrain disruptions via
Elimination
Nutrition
Lifestyle
Supplements
Alternative approaches
For example, kidney cancer is accompanied by a disbalance of several terrains, including blood sugar, environmental toxins, immunity, and genetics/epigenetics.
In order to restore balance, we would have to approach the cancer system disbalance with a five-step plan, starting with the elimination of sugar, chemicals, and GMOs from the diet; introducing a low-carb approach; choosing only organic products; tuning up our lifestyle with proper exercise; choosing appropriate dietary supplements; and attending sessions of acupuncture or infrared sauna.
Understanding which cancer is affected by which system and using the five-step plan can help the body fight cancer on a fundamental level by getting our systems back in balance.