Intravenous Vitamin C Therapy: A Natural Agent for Treating Cancer

Abstract

ccording to the American Cancer Society, cancer rates continue to rise each year. 1 It has been estimated that the incidence of new cancers in the United States may be as high as 1.2 million cases per year. In addition, 600,000 deaths each year result from cancer. 2 Despite breakthroughs often announced by the media, there is presently no effective strategy to reduce the risk of recurrence of a primary tumor or the development of a second cancer induced by conventional treatment. Conventional cancer therapy (radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery) has made very few breakthroughs in cancer treatment. These small breakthroughs include producing increased cure rates for specific tumors in Hodgkin's disease, teratocarcinoma, and childhood leukemia. Unfortunately, there are no major breakthroughs in the more common cancers, such as breast, prostate, lung, and colon. Despite the strides that have been made, there is still risk of recurrence and development of new cancers and nonneoplastic disease-such as aplastic anemia; retardation of growth in children; and delayed necrosis in some organs such as brain, liver, bone, and muscle-without any good standard options for their prevention in conventional oncology. Serious side-effects and the potential for the damage of normal healthy tissues and organs is a continuing problem with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Organ and tissue damage and other serious adverse effects often cause patients to disrupt and/or discontinue therapy. 2 The question of whether or not to use antioxidants with chemotherapy and radiation therapy continues to be a cause of debate among most oncologists. Yet, they freely prescribe synthetic antioxidants, such as dexrazoxane and amifostine, to minimize chemotherapy and radiation side-effects. More than 30 years of human and animal research demonstrate that antioxidants reduce toxicity and increase tumor killing when given with chemotherapy and radiation. Several studies have demonstrated that antioxidants enhance the growth inhibitory effect of chemotherapy and radiation, suggesting that mechanisms other than free-radical generation are responsible for the tumor-killing effects of these treatments. 2-9