By Brijesh Ghelani

While there are many types of cancer that end up involving the kidneys, the term kidney cancer has been determined to refer to those cancers that actually originate in the kidneys themselves. The two most common forms of cancer that fit this description are renal cell carcinoma and urothelial cell carcinoma.

Renal cell carcinoma starts in the tubes of the kidneys that filter the blood and get rid of the waste products. It is the most common kidney cancer in adults, accounting for eighty percent of the adult kidney cancers found in adults and is also the most lethal of the kidney cancers.

Symptoms of renal cell carcinoma include blood in the urine, pain in the side or sides of the body just below the rib cage to just below the pelvis, a palpable mass in the abdomen, and hydronephrosis, which is an enlargement and misshaping of the renal pelvis and calyces, due to the blockage of the free flow of urine from the kidney.

Treatment of renal cell carcinoma focuses on the removal of the obstruction and draining of the urine from the kidney or kidneys involved.

The second of the two most common form of kidney cancer is urothelieal cell carcinoma. It forms itself in the tissue that lines the hollow spaces which are part of the two kidneys. This form of kidney cancer has proven itself to be very difficult to treat effectively. One common form of treatment is surgery, removing the tumor, however it is very often replaced by another tumor.

Another form of treatment used to combat renal cell carcinoma is chemotherapy, that is the use of chemicals to combat the cancer.

Medical studies seem to point to such things as the use of phenacetin as a painkiller, smoking, being exposed to secondhand smoke and the excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages as causes for the formation of renal cell carcinoma.

Ironically enough, recent medical studies seem to indicate that the use of cyclophosphamide to combat other forms of cancer seems to contribute to causing urotheliel cell carcinoma in the kidneys. This makes one wonder if there are times when one might aggressively combat one form of cancer, only to risk giving oneself another form of cancer by so doing.

The best way to fight kidney cancer, or any form of cancer for that matter, is to do all that one can to live in such a way as to prevent its formation. This means eating healthy foods such as vegetables and fruits and getting proper exercise.

Also, follow a routine of following your doctor's recommendations for periodic checkups. Catching kidney cancer in its very early stages can make all the difference in being able to combat it and in being the victor over it, rather than being its victim.

By Brijesh Ghelani

Chemotherapy, the very words themselves strike terror into the heart of most every cancer victim. Not that the treatments themselves aren't affective, often they work very successfully, however with many people the first thing they think of is how sick they have heard people get with this form of treatment. I've heard it said that some people claim that they are sick for several days, better for one or two and then go back for more treatments only to repeat the cycle over again.

Chemotherapy itself is the treatment of combating a disease, in this case cancer, through the use of a select group of chemicals which combat and kill fast dividing blood cells. Since fast division is something which is often attributed to various forms of cancer, chemotherapy is often the treatment of choice.

Chemotherapy is also used to combat other diseases, including multiple sclerosis, dermatomyositis, polymyositis, lupis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Another nightmare aspect that the words chemotherapy bring to mind is that of hair loss. I'm sure we've all heard the stories about someone running their fingers through their hair to smooth it back only to have it start falling out in clumps, or perhaps getting up in the morning to find that their hair stays behind on their pillow.

The thing that isn't emphasized as much as these nightmare aspects is that chemotherapy quite often helps in three different ways for which it may be used. The first is curative. Chemotherapy often does prove successful in eliminating the body of cancer, thereby curing the person, secondly, in prolonging the person's life by slowing down the cancer from its invasion of the person's body and thirdly, in a palative way, by helping to improve the so called quality of the person's life, thereby emphasizing quality rather than quantity.

Chemotherapy is usually delivered through the means of intravenous injection. This method has improved through the years until today it often is delivered through isolated infusion, which simply means that it is given in a concentrated dose that is aimed right at the afflicted area, rather than also attacking the entire system, which means it is less apt to destroy good cells that are fast acting as right along with the cancerous cells which it is intended to destroy.

The so-called nightmare aspects of chemotherapy can be combated. The studies conducted by many medical professionals have led them to recommend that their patients eat frequent small meals, rather than the usual three meals a day. Many also recommend the drinking of clear liquids or of ginger tea. The important thing to remember is that chemotherapy helps in most cases and that the adverse effects usually stop shortly when the treatments are ended.

As for the hair loss, the hair does grow back. This has never proven to be a permanent thing. A strange aspect of this growing back is that it sometimes grows back curly, even though it was straight to begin with. This result is often rather jokingly referred to as a 'chemo perm'.

Chemotherapy is a good thing. It is intended to and often does help with the purpose for which it is used. This is one nightmare that can be the answer to a person's best dreams.

By Brijesh Ghelani

The number one aspect of cancer treatment, is cancer surgery. Surgery may be used for one or more reasons. It can be used to remove the cancerous area, the tumor or growth, to repair damage that was done by a tumor or growth, to remove a piece of the tumor in order to examine it to see if it is indeed cancerous or perhaps to prevent a person from contracting cancer. If there is a genetic history for example of some sort of cancer, for instance colon cancer, than removing that part of the body which might well be susceptible to cancer can prevent it's possibility, not from cancer itself but from that particular form of cancer.

Cancer surgery has several forms, done for various reasons. One form is called staging. This is done when the doctor wants to find out what stage the cancer has reached in its formation. For example, what size is the tumor and has it spread and involved other parts of the body.

Another form of cancer surgery is called primary surgery. This is when the cancerous area is highly located and doesn't appear to have spread. The tumor is then often removed and other forms of treatment used in conjunction with the surgery, such as radiation or chemotherapy, to kill any cancer cells that may remain.

Still a third form of this surgery is called debulking. In this form of cancer surgery, when it is impossible to remove the entire cancerous area, a portion of it is removed, with the goal of possibly making the radiation or chemotherapy used more effective.

Cancer surgery is also used, not to remove the cancer but rather to eliminate the symptoms or the side effects of the cancer.
Examples of this would be to relieve such a thing as pain being caused by a tumor pressing on a nerve or by a tumor causing some sort of an obstruction in the body.

In many cases of cancer surgery, the surgeon will remove not only the cancerous tissues involved but also some of the healthy tissues surrounding them, as a safety measure in striving to remove all of the cancerous tissues. The surgeon will also many times remove some of the lymph nodes, in order to test them to see if the cancer has spread into their area.

In the cases of different kinds of cancer, that is located and attacking different parts of the body, the cancer surgeries will take different forms. For breast cancer for example, cancer surgery may mean the removal of one or both breasts, that is the performance of a mastectomy, or it may mean the removal of that part of the breast where the cancer is located, along with some of the surrounding healthy tissues. This is called a lumpectomy.

In the case of lung cancer, cancer surgery may mean the removal of an entire lung, which is called a pneumonectomy or it may mean the removal of part of one lung, which is called a lobectomy.

Don't avoid being checked if you feel something is wrong. If you do have cancer and surgery is called for, the sooner that you get it done, the better. Treat yourself as you would treat a friend and give yourself good advice and follow it.

By Brijesh Ghelani

"Eat your vegetables, they're good for you!" Remember those words? I would imagine that most of us find them familiar. I have to wonder though if our parents and grandparents could have told us why they were good for us.

Now, however, because of scientific studies which our medical professionals in today's world have conducted, we have an answer to give to the children in our lives. Our vegetables help to prevent cancer. This is especially true of dark green vegetables, such as broccoli.

Broccoli is considered to be especially beneficial for us. Broccoli has a large amount of something called sulforaphane. Sulforaphane has been shown through medical studies to be especially useful in preventing cancer.

Medical professionals conducted a number of studies on animals and found that those animals who were fed broccoli regularly in their diets had a much lower amount of cancer than did the control group which was not fed broccoli.

According to a medical professional, Dr. Paul Talalay, of Hopkins' Brassica Chemoprevention Laboratory, broccoli eaten in it's early stages doesn't have the same bitter taste that we tend to associate with it when it is more fully developed. Dr. Talalay claims that his medical studies have proven that broccoli sprouts just don't taste like broccoli yet have the same beneficial characteristics when it comes to fighting cancer.

If you just can't stand the taste of broccoli, not even knowing that it will give you a large amount of sulforaphane, there are other plants that contain it also. You might want to try arugula, bok' choy, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, water cress, daikon, kale, kohirabi, mustard and of course turnips. Medical professionals claim that their scientific studies show that sprouted seeds of each one of these plants have as much as 100 times the amount of sulforaphane as we will find in fully grown broccoli sprouts and without the bitter taste. This means that the sprouted seeds have more ammunition with which to combat cancerous cells than do their fully grown counterparts.

By Brijesh Ghelani

The Budwig Diet is the brainchild of Dr. Johanna Budwig. Dr. Budwig, a German biochemist and a leading expert in the field of natural foods such as those containing fats and oils designed this diet and presented it to the world back in 1951. Dr. Budwig felt that this diet was not only an excellent preventative of cancer but was also an actual cure for cancer.

Doctor claimed that her scientific studies showed that the blood of people who were afflicted with cancer were significantly low in substances which are known as phosphatides and lipoproteins. She further claimed that her studies showed that the blood of people who were not afflicted with cancer were appreciatively higher in these substances.

It was Dr. Budwig's contention that if the phosphatides and lipoprotein levels in the blood of the people with cancer were raised the cancer would disappear.

Since the products which would supply these substances are not actual medicines but are rather found naturally in cottage cheese and organic flax seed oil, Dr. Budwig was able to recommend a combination of these food substances to her patients who were suffering from cancer. Dr. Budwig also made it clear that both of these food substances needed to be taken, not just one or the other in order for this diet to be effective.

Both Doctor and her medical colleagues who have worked with her on studying the effectiveness of this diet, feel that after years of careful study, it has been shown that a significant number of people who were not helped by the traditional cancer treatments were not only helped but in many cases were completely cured of any kind of cancer.

This opinion is further backed up by people who had cancer and after going on Dr. Budwig's diet claim that they have now found themselves to be one hundred percent cancer free. Many of these claims are further backed up by medical professionals who had earlier been treating these people for cancer.

Is Dr. Budwig's diet a miracle preventative and a miracle cure? Would these people who claim to have been cured by it have gone into some sort of a recession and become cancer free without it? I don't know. I can only say that there does seem to be some sort of a correlation between the diet and the disappearance of the cancer. A cure and a preventative? We can but hope.

By Brijesh Ghelani

Chinese medicine has involved the use of Chinese herbs in fighting cancer since well before the birth of Christ. The Chinese do not have a single word for cancer but rather several different words, since their medical professionals see cancer as several different disorders.

In today's world, a number of people are turning to Chinese herbs as a treatment and hopeful cure for cancer rather than the more traditionally recognized treatments of chemotherapy and radiation which are ordinarily used in this country.

Different kinds of Chinese herbs are given in the battle against cancer. Some kinds are given to attack the tumor with blood breaking capabilities. Others are what are called anti toxic herbs which are given to toxicity which may have been caused by chemotherapy treatments.

Since the body must have the capability of fighting against the cancer which has invaded it, herbs are given to strengthen the immune system.

Still other herbs are given to put the body in what the Chinese medical professionals refer to as balance. This means that the body will function as one being, not several parts, each doing it's own battle.

Along with the herbs given to fight the cancer and to set the body in balance, herbs are also given to prevent the reoccurrence of cancer.

Different herbs are given to specifically fight different kinds of cancer. Chinese medical professionals divide cancer into six distinct groups, breast cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, lung cancer and liver cancer, seeing each one as a different disease, where as with American medical professionals, cancer is seen as one disease which strikes different parts of the body. Many American medical professionals are beginning to feel that their scientific studies are beginning to point towards this same idea, that cancer is not just one disease but several.

Many Chinese medical professionals feel that the use of Chinese herbs to fight the various kinds of cancer has proven to be successful. There are also a number of people who have been treated for cancer by the use of Chinese herbs who feel that they are now one hundred percent cancer free.

If a person decides to treat their cancer through the use of Chinese herbs it is important that they research the medical professionals qualifications to offer this kind of treatment just as they would in researching the qualifications of a person advertised as being a member of the American Medical Association.

Talk to your family doctor. Possibly the best solution for cancer treatment would be a combination of the traditional American treatments and the Chinese herbs. Make your decisions wisely.

By Robert Hung

One of the most surprisingly promising approaches, the concept of cooling the scalp to prevent chemotherapy-induced hair loss has been in practice since the 1970s with as simple a procedure as 'ice cubes in a plastic bag'. However, it was relatively unsuccessful as hair loss was prevalent in areas that did not get cold enough and resulted in a patchy hair pattern.

To prevent frostbite and to even out the application, a company called Dignitana developed a proprietary gel cap called the DigniCap that boasts a controlled temperature accurate to +/-2°C. The temperature gradually decreases over 30 minutes and allows the patient's ears to be free for earphones. The technology also has multiple safety mechanisms to prevent incorrect temperature shifts from harming the patient.

A report on msnbc.com detailed the experience of Heather Millar, one of four patients trying the experimental DigniCap. The cap has been used in Europe and some Asian countries but not in the U.S. because of concerns that if cancerous cells were present in the scalp, the chemotherapy would be ineffective in that area. After several treatments, Heather Millar retained the majority of her hair, and with her success, the F.D.A. may approve a clinical trial for 100 people in the near future. For now, investigators are limiting a trial to four patients facing chemotherapy-induced hair loss during their treatment for early stage breast cancer.

Although the concept may be new in the U.S. it has been studied extensively in Europe. Published research from the journal Supportive Care in Cancer in 2003 depicts the initial stages of DigniCap studies. Of 74 patients tested with varying types of cancer, only two had chosen to stop using the cap due to discomfort while total prevention of hair loss was observed in anthracycline treated patients. Additionally, the hair loss in patients being treated with paclitaxel/docetaxel treated was minimal to none. Researchers also found no metastases in the scalp were present 15 months following treatment, alleviating some concerns.

In other parts of the world, a 2009 study from Japan in the Journal of Clinical Oncology involved 255 patients ranging from 25 to 77 years with breast cancer over the course of two years. The study found the 55% of patients had no hair loss and 26% had minimal loss with only 6 patients losing the majority of their hair. They concluded that the DigniCap gel to prevent hair loss was an effective method for those being treated with chemotherapy for breast cancer.

With extreme cases of patients choosing to delay treatment or use less effective methods when hair loss is imminent, addressing the problem of chemotherapy-induced hair loss is not only a critical need to improve quality of patients' quality of life, but also to remove barriers to the best quality of care.

By Kevin Whitsitt

The good news about this horrible disease is that a good herbal cancer treatment can work wonders with it. Another cool thing is that treatment of this kind will work with your body rather than against so it's natural.

Before I share with you some ideas on various herbal Cancer treatments, firstly I want to talk a little about this disease.

I would like to mention that this disease is complicated and even the experts can all be wrong so it is important to take any advice with a grain of salt. Having said that I will share with you some basics which I have learned about as well as a few herbal cancer treatments.

There are millions of cells in the human body. Every single day they are continuously dividing, replicating and dying in a normal way. A Cancer cell does not replicate normally.

The cells of Cancer mostly grow in a destructive manner. Instead of cells dying normally, they continue to grow and can even invade other tissues and organs. Every cell a Cancer makes has damaged DNA just like the original.

Because these Cancer cells grow out of control they can form tumors. Some forms of Cancer don't form tumors such as Leukemia.

Unfortunately Cancer cells can also spread to other parts of the body through the blood stream, this is called metastasis. This way it can wreak destruction on your body.

Another thing is that different parts of the human body Cancer will not be the same. It can grow different ways, and respond differently to treatments.

No matter where the Cancer spreads where it was first started is how it is named such as breast, lung, prostate Cancer.

So how can you stop and prevent Cancer? The correct answer is know one knows for sure, many people have various opinions and ideas. This is why it doesn't hurt to do your own resource and seek out ideas from different people.

One of the top herbal Cancer treatments is by taking a very good nutrient supplement. That way you will be giving your body the resources it needs to fight this disease.

If you are confused about supplements which I think many people are, click on the link below this article for more information. The website can go over this topic in much more depth and they also discuss ideas to increase cellular health.

The next really nifty idea for treatment with Cancer has to do with becoming green. I really don't think anyone will object to that. Meaning eat tons and tons of fruits and vegetables. In fact if you check out "Anticancer a new way of life," some studies show that by using foods that fight Cancer and developing a peace of mind patients on average live 2 to 3 times longer.

Tests also agree that green tea hugely fights the negative affects of this problem. Eating cooked mushrooms, being in a support group with others including humor has been documented to help as well.

The last thing I would like to talk about is to use chemotherapy as a last resort cause it's basically destroying a doll house to take down the doll Barbie. (And no I don't play with Barbie Dolls, I just got that example from a show on health.)

By Brijesh Ghelani

Cancell Cantron Procel Taxol was developed by a biochemist by the name of James V. Sheridan. He developed it in the year 1936 and gave it the name Entelev. Because he felt that Entelev was a gift from God, to be given freely to any cancer patient desiring to have it, and that he was just the agent used to create and dispense it, James Sheridan refused to accept any financial compensation for any of the Entelev which he gave away freely.

As time went by, Entelev was also developed under other names, amongst them Cancell, Cantron, Procel and Taxol.

James Sheridan tested his formula on animals during the 1940's with what he felt was great success.

During the 1960's, while employed by the Battelle Laboratories which are the testing centers for the National Cancer Institute, James Sheridan conducted further research on Entelev. According to the records of the National Cancer Institute, the two day test run which James Sheridan was allowed to conduct showed an amazingly significant reduction in the size of tumor cells but only a small amount of dead cells. A large number of medical professionals are of the opinion that had the test been allowed to continue for a longer period of time, the shrunken cells would also have died. Because there was only a small amount of dead cells in comparison to some other products, the National Cancer Institute gave Entelev a response of negative results. They refused to consider that a longer period of time might have shown that Entelev might have shown itself to be the best product in the long run.

Entelev works by reducing the amount of energy produced by the adenosine triphosphate in each cell. In cells which have not been struck by cancer, this reduction does not effect their function however in the matter of cancerous cells, it causes them to die. This is a slower process than that of chemotherapy, but does not involve poisoning and is considered by many medical professionals to be not only a more effective treatment but one which is less harmful to other parts of the body.

While it is not being sold as a medication to fight cancer, Entelev is still being sold by Medical Research Products under the name of Cantron. The Federal Drug Administration has not challenged this since it is being sold simply as a dietary supplement.

Is Entelev a cure and preventative for cancer? There are medical professionals who will say yes and still others who will say no. If it is, then James Sheridan is right and it truly is a gift from God.

By Brijesh Ghelani

One of the latest theories concerning cancer is that it is man made. After careful studies made of Egyptian mummies, professional research teams have reported that out of hundreds of examinations only one case of cancer was found to exist. When compared to the fact that one out of every four deaths in today's world is said to be the result of some form of cancer, this leads us to wonder why the amazing difference. What are we doing in today's world that our long ago ancestors did not do? Or perhaps we should also ask what did they do in their time that we are not doing today?

Since there are different forms of cancer, we should think carefully about the differences between those early times and our modern times in more than one category.

For instance, what about pollution? In today's world, we pollute the air with our automobiles, lawn mowers and other forms of fuel operated machinery. We might want to consider the fact that these earlier ancestors used a much different form of transportation, one that was fueled by food stuffs and whose excretion or "pollution" if you will could be recycled naturally.

There is also the matter of food. In today's world we often use various forms of sprays on our gardens in order to protect our vegetables, fruits, berries, grains etc from insects and animals that would claim them from us. In those earlier days, these particular methods were not available.

We also use man made preservatives in our foods. In those earlier days whatever preservatives were used were natural one and natural ways of preservation.

We also might want to consider what these early ancestors included in their diets and compare them with what we tend to eat on a regular basis in today's world. We do know that they didn't have what we refer to as fast food joints. This isn't to say that cancer is necessarily a by product of McDonald's or BurgerKing, but perhaps we should give careful thought to just how much of what we term "junk food" we are consuming daily.

What about other forms of life style? Did these early ancestors get more exercise than we do in today's world? Do we perhaps take advantage of our modern conveniences to allow us not to find it necessary to get a certain amount of exercise just to be able to survive? Perhaps today's world tends to produce more couch potato's than it does those of the vegetable variety.

I'm not saying that we should go back and live as these early ancestors did, but perhaps we should examine the differences and perhaps do something to, as the old song says, eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive.