Cancer Treatment to Become Painless

For years doctors around the world have been working to find a cure for cancer. While most types are cured with the help of chemotherapy, we are all familiar with the side effects that come with the therapy -- hair loss, weight loss, loss of appetite, among many others.   

But this team, from China headed by Dr Scott Waters claim that an alternative cure without side effects has been found. Called the Next Generation Photodynamic Cancer therapy (NGPDT), it is a result of 10 years of research and experimentation and is all set to make an entry in Hyderabad.

What is NGPDT?

“It is a therapy in which a photosensitiser will be used in Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) utilising ‘Whole Body Light Delivery System’ and ‘Near Infrared Lasers’,” says Dr Scott.

Elaborating on the same he explains, “Patients will be given an oral photosensitising agent that will collect itself in cancer tissues. When exposed to light, it gets activated, releasing a highly energised free radical form of oxygen known as singlet oxygen. The singlet oxygen destroys cancer cells from the inside out, while leaving normal tissues largely unaffected.”

The treatment is also less invasive. “Healthy cells won’t get destructed and has little or no side effects. Cancer won’t reoccur. The treatment doesn’t affect immune system. Patients are not confined to dark room during the treatment process,” adds the doctor.

Limitations

It has a few limitations as well. The treatment which will go on for about two months, depending on the type of cancer and how the patients body responds to it, does not cover leukemia and brain cancer.

Speaking about its success rate the doctor says, “We have helped 70 per cent of people in stage four recover and get back to normal.”

Though a few Indians have been to China and got the disease cured, the treatment will be available in Hyderabad from 2016. “We will meet doctors and hospital management in Hyderabad and understand the ways in which we can bring the treatment for Indians. Even the cost of the treatment will be decided only after that.”

NGPDT over chemotherapy

• Chemotherapy
•  Kills healthy cells surrounding cancer cells
• Reduces immunity
• Cancer can reoccur
•  Costs more than NGPDT
•  Patients can have side effects like fatigue, pain, mouth and throat sores, diarrhea, nausea and vomiting, constipation, blood disorders, nervous system effects
• Treatment goes on for longer time
•  Patient is confined to one room even after the treatment

NGPDT

•  Targets only cancer cells
•  As the healthy cells are not destroyed, immunity of the patient does not get affected
• The disease will be cured completely
•  Costs less than chemotherapy and the process contains only one stage
• The process does not leave patients with any side effects
•  Treatment process goes on only for a few months
• Patient can get back to normal life immediately