In addition to information about 4 orthodox methods being applied to treat cancer in Vietnam, Director of K Hospital – Director of Cancer Prevention Research Institute Tran Van Thuan also shared his views on other methods. such as Ohsawa macrobiotics: alkalize the blood or abstain from meat and milk….

When finding out that they have cancer, patients will certainly be extremely confused, not knowing how they will have to be treated and what is the best way. They also often have the thought “If you have a disease, you should pay attention to the four directions”, which is both expensive, not necessarily effective, but sometimes even skips the “golden phase” of healing.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Thuan, Director of K Hospital, Director of the Institute for Cancer Prevention and Research shared with reporters about this issue.

Director of K Institute Tran Van Thuan

4 orthodox methods to cure cancer.

According to Assoc. Prof. Tran Van Thuan, at present, cancer treatment methods can be divided into 4 main groups, these methods have been tested, have clear evidence and have been applied by cancer centers around the world. use.

Specifically, surgical treatment is the indicated method for localized tumor stage cancer. Surgery is the most effective way to treat early-stage cancer.

Radiation therapy is the use of ionizing radiation to destroy cancer cells. Radiation therapy is the basic and essential method of cancer treatment. WHO ranks radiation therapy as one of the most important methods for cancer treatment and control. 50-70% of cancer patients are indicated for radiation therapy. Indications for radiation therapy depend on the type of cancer, the stage of the disease, the type of histopathology… Radiation therapy can be performed alone or in combination with other treatment methods such as surgery and chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy is the use of cytotoxic drugs to destroy cancer cells. Of course, more toxic to cancer cells than to healthy cells of the body. Compared to its effectiveness, side effects from chemotherapy are tolerable and manageable. Chemotherapy is indicated mainly for metastatic stage cancer, then as an adjuvant for localized stage cancer after local treatment, with a high risk of metastatic recurrence.

Targeted therapy is the use of drugs that block the growth and spread of cancer cells by interfering with specific molecules involved in carcinogenesis and tumor growth. . Because scientists call these molecules molecular targets, treatments that block them are called molecularly target therapies. These include monoclonal antibodies (mab) and small-molecule drugs (inhibitor-ib).

Methods that have no basis

Responding to a reporter about GS’s views on cancer treatment by macrobiotics. Ohsawa follows the law of yin and yang balance, Assoc. Thuan said: Ohsawa macrobiotic method is like a form of vegetarianism. In general, vegetarians, because they do not eat meat, will eat more green vegetables, fruits and whole grains than those who eat normally. If enough energy is guaranteed, this is also a good diet because eating a lot of vegetables and fruits has long been recognized by medical science to prevent some types of cancer, especially colorectal cancer. .

“However, the diet has never been designed to be studied as a cancer-specific treatment. Therefore, choosing a certain diet and considering it as a cancer treatment is a mistake and of course will not be effective,” said the director of K Hospital.

Regarding the viewpoint of not eating meat, sugar and milk to prevent cancer cells from growing, Assoc. Thuan also said that this is a view that has no scientific basis. According to him, for cancer patients, doctors It is often recommended to eat a diet full of nutrients including vitamins, water, minerals, sugars, proteins, and fats. In addition, it is necessary to maintain a reasonable weight, limit alcohol consumption, do not smoke and exercise regularly.

“Some guidelines recommend eating mainly plant-based foods, not completely abstaining from meat, completely cutting out meat from the daily diet. If the patient wants to choose a vegetarian diet, it must be ensured that it is a healthy, varied, rich and full of energy vegetarian diet. If the patient is not supplied with enough energy, it will lead to emaciation, exhaustion, not being healthy enough to fight the disease as well as not responding to specific cancer treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy , chemotherapy,” noted Associate Professor Tran Van Thuan.

Recently, social networks are spreading the method of alkalizing the blood into the body to treat cancer; using sodium bicarbonate because it’s cheap and easy to drink, cancer treatment in this way is painless… They even advise people with the disease “no need to cure the disease, just correct the daily mistakes such as action, thinking, eating and drinking against the rules of the universe, diseases will naturally decrease and completely disappear.

It is also advised that people eat 100% alkaline-forming foods so that the blood and water in the body PH = 7.4, all diseases that require antibiotics will be gone, PH = 8.5 cancer will die. …

“The above statements have absolutely no scientific basis. So far, there have not been any studies or recommendations that show that using the above methods has a cancer treatment effect,” said the director of the Institute for Cancer Prevention Research.

Regarding immunotherapy introduced at the recent Medicine and Pharmacy exhibition, Associate Professor Tran Van Thuan said, this is not yet considered an orthodox treatment method and in the near future, K Hospital will participate in research on this therapy.

Responding to a reporter’s question about there are patients who have been returned by the hospital because they have lost all hope but then recovered after taking herbal medicine, the director of K Hospital confirmed, those are the people who have been treated with medical treatment. orthodox methods, then about using herbal medicine rather than those who were left untreated and returned to the hospital.

The director of K hospital advised people as well as cancer patients to learn and refer to official sources of information and documents on the prevention of this disease from specialist doctors and medical facilities, medical associations and organizations. prestigious cancer association.

In particular, cancer patients need to ask their diagnosis and treatment doctors a lot to understand the disease, treatment methods, response ability and prognosis.

“Treatment of cancer is a very large, very complex issue and requires deep expertise, combining multimodalities and specialties to be effective. It is not easy to be gullible, to waste money and time, to lose the opportunity for orthodox treatment because of choosing unorthodox methods that do not have a scientific basis,” said Associate Professor Tran Van Thuan.

Previously, the Director of K Hospital also denied the information that Vietnam is the country with the highest cancer rate in the world. According to Thuan, there are 172 countries reported, the death rate from cancer in Vietnam is the 78th country, ranked from high to low mortality rate.

“Thus, information from many recent articles claiming that Vietnam is the country with the highest cancer mortality rate in the world is incorrect,” said the director of the Institute for Cancer Prevention Research.