Science and Compassion: Compassionate Use for Cancer

Through my twitter I came across an article in the New York Times about a problem that many mainstraim doctors and patients are faced with.

The article is about doctors bending the rules of clinical trials in order to get patients enrolled in clinical trials for which they would otherwise not qualify.

ECCO (European CanCer Organisation) Conference: results

The ECCO is Europe’s oldest and largest scientific conference on cancer and currently the ECCO 15 – ESMO 34 in Berlin is in full swing.

Here’s a short overview of some of the main highlights. 

Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst causing Trouble in Paradise for the British Chiropractic Association?

In Belgium you can call a quack for what he is: a quack.

In the United Kingdom however, you cannot.

British physicist and science writer Simon Singh wrote in The Guardian that there is not a jot of evidence for the claim of the chiropractics that their treatments are effective for  certain children’s ailments, but that this doesn’t stop them from ‘happily’ selling their ‘bogus’ treatments. Well, perhaps Singh had better not done this.

Simon Singh Is Refused Permission To Appeal

British physicist and science writer Simon Singh wrote in The Guardian that there is not a jot of evidence for the claim of the chiropractics that their treatments are effective for  certain children’s ailments, but that this doesn’t stop them from ‘happily’ selling their ‘bogus’ treatments. The chiropractics, many of whom claim that their treatments are helpful in conditions like asthma, adhd and – as they did on this blog – even cancer, dragged Singh to court for libel. The judge found for the chiropractics, but Singh decided to appeal the verdict.

Alternative Medicine and Why It Seems To Work

Very rarely have alternative treatments or medication been able to show any therapeutic value. Yet countless people swear by it and are convinced they can’t do without.

The mysterious placebo effect has everything to do with this. But what is it and how does it work? Harriet Hall explains.

What you should know about chiropractic

This article was originally published in The New Scientist

For many people, chiropractic appears almost mainstream. Some chiropractors even call themselves “doctor”. In the UK, chiropractors are regulated by statute, and in the US they like to be seen as primary care physicians. It is therefore understandable if people hardly ever question the evidential basis on which this profession rests. 

The Science Game

There is a wonderful post by Val Jones on Science-Based Medicine, in which she explains what science is about and how we acquire scientific knowledge. To do this, she uses the “Game of 20 Questions” as an analogy.

It reminds me of the beautiful metaphor of the crossword puzzle, used by Susan Haack to clarify the process of acquiring knowledge in her book Defending Science.

Guide to Alternative Therapies

Thanks Ed! 😉

Have you ever seen the website of Ed Friedlander? He is a pathologist who created the internet’s busiest one-person medical site, with a wealth of information on all kinds of diseases, including cancer. On Mr. Friedlander’s site, we found this information on a number of alternative treatments for cancer. Friedlander has rated the treatments as follows:

• Confident: the remedy has a plausable mechanism and has been given some basic tests, and/or has solidly passed two good, clear, controlled studies;
• Optimistic: the remedy makes sense pathophysiologically, and there is at least impressive anecdotal evidence;
• Doubtful: the anecdotal evidence seemed interesting, but that’s all there was;
• Pessimistic: it’s understandable why somebody might have thought of this. But if this actually works better than a placebo and a little human kindness, we are all going to have to make some major readjustments in how we think about health and disease. Don’t spend too much money, or get your hopes up.

See also this website, where a pathologist shows that cancer is not caused by the common fungus Candida Albicans

Now see this page! Images, Photos and Videos of Cancer

Alternative therapists often want us to believe that cancer is a relatively simple disease that can easily be cured, even when it is deemed “terminal,” as long as the patients do exactly what their alternative therapists tell them.

Beat the Enemy by Knowing Him

However, cancer is neither simple nor easy to cure and it should never be underestimated. It will stop at nothing, unless we make it stop and science provides us with the knowledge to do so. Even with metastasized cancer, progress is being made, albeit slow.

Because one image says more than a thousand words, we have added a new page to this blog with images related to cancer. Consider yourself warned: some of them are not for the faint-hearted.

The complementary medicine detective

Edzard Ernst, the UK’s first professor of complementary medicine who has become alternative medicine’s public enemy number one, has recently published a new book: Healing, Hype or Harm? A Critical Analysis of Complementary or Alternative Medicine. Michael Bond interviewed Edzard Ernst for The New Scientist.

See also this article in the Mail Online, on acupuncture and a number of other alternative therapies.