To Radiate or not to Radiate

Therapeutic Ionising Irradiation - Radiotherapy

To date, the use of alternative medicine in the treatment of radiation side effects has not been extensively studied. Furthermore, since certain natural therapies may interfere with the effects of radiation treatment, it's extremely important to talk with your doctor before using any type of alternative medicine while undergoing radiation (and to let him or her know about any natural remedies or alternative therapies you're already using).

Aliyyaa Spring ND MRN, the founder of Hope Spring Clinic and President of the British Naturopathic Association and General Council of registered Naturopaths, advises that knowing the risks involved in radiation therapy is important to be able to make a fully informed choice regarding your treatment. An in-depth look into research from Neurology and General Medicine on the neurological complications of Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy may give some insight to those ignorant of the process and risks involved.

Prof. Michael Aminoff from the Department of Neurology, states therapeutic ionizing irradiation may affect the nervous system in one of two settings: First, damage to neural structures may occur when structures are included in the radiation portal. This damage can occur whether the cancer undergoing radiation therapy is within or outside the nervous system. Second, nervous system dysfunction can also occur secondarily when therapeutic irradiation damages blood vessels supplying the brain or endocrine organs necessary for appropriate nervous system function (usually the thyroid gland) or when the irradiation causes tumors that compress or destroy nervous system structures. Nervous system dysfunction caused by radiation therapy can occur acutely or may be delayed by weeks, months, or even years following the successful completion of treatment.

The likelihood that radiation therapy will damage the nervous system depends on many factors, including the total dose delivered to the nervous system, the dose delivered with each treatment or the dose per fraction, the total volume of nervous system irradiated, the time after completion of radiation therapy, the presence of other systemic diseases that enhance the side effects of irradiation (e.g., diabetes, hypertension), and other unidentifiable host factors.

Early Delayed Encephalopathy

Early delayed encephalopathy usually begins in the second or third month after irradiation but can begin anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months after treatment. If the patient has a brain tumor, the symptoms of early delayed encephalopathy often simulate tumor progression. For example, the patient may develop recurrence of headache, lethargy, and worsening of lateralizing signs. Changes on CT scan or MRI may include an increase in the size of the lesion and sometimes the occurrence of contrast enhancement not previously present. These changes resolve spontaneously if the disorder is due to radiation encephalopathy rather than tumor recurrence, and this resolution can be hastened by the use of corticosteroids. The patient and the scan remain improved after corticosteroids are discontinued, indicating that the disorder was early delayed encephalopathy rather than tumor recurrence.

A rare and serious neurological syndrome is brainstem encephalopathy following irradiation of posterior fossa tumors, or when the brainstem has been included in the irradiated field for head and neck cancer.The most frequent symptoms are ataxia, diplopia, dysarthria, and nystagmus. Most patients recover spontaneously within 6 to 8 weeks. Rarely, the symptoms progress to stupor, coma, and death.

The pathogenesis of early delayed encephalopathy is believed to be demyelination, resulting from damage to oligodendroglia and subsequent breakdown of myelin sheaths. The best evidence supporting that hypothesis consists of pathological studies in patients with early delayed brainstem encephalopathy in which confluent areas of demyelination with varying degrees of axonal loss are found in areas that were irradiated.There is an associated loss of oligodendrocytes and abnormal and often multinucleated giant astrocytes. Furthermore, the latency in the onset and timing of resolution correspond to the cycle of myelin turnover.

Late Delayed Radiation Necrosis

Late delayed radiation necrosis usually begins a year or two after the completion of radiation therapy. The symptoms depend on the nature of the primary disease. In patients who are treated for primary or metastatic brain tumors, symptoms generally recapitulate those of the brain tumor, leading the physician to suspect tumor recurrence. In addition, the MRI or CT scan mimics recurrence, with the appearance of a contrast-enhancing lesion that is indistinguishable from tumor. Occasionally, a lesion suggesting a tumor appears at a distant site. Positron emission tomography with glucose can help distinguish radiation necrosis from recurrent tumor, the former showing decreased glucose uptake (cold area), the latter an increased glucose uptake (hot area).

A Holisitc Approach

So there you go - therapeutic ionising irradiation - radiotherapy, in a nutshell. Now the question is - what do we do about it?

Emphasising a holistic approach, naturopathic medicine offers complementary natural therapies to support and strengthen the body and mind before, during, and after conventional medical cancer treatments radiotheraphy and/or chemotherapy. At Hope Spring Clinic we promote naturopathic medicine to help optimise tolerance to conventional treatments while also providing strategies to reinforce the body’s natural defenses and recovery systems so that each individual is at their strongest capacity to fight the disease.

Mistletoe Therapy

At Hope Spring Clinic, therapy with mistletoe products is used in a number of different ways and for a broad spectrum of tumour diseases. Within a treatment plan, it can have a supportive (adjuvant), alleviating (palliative) or, most commonly, a general strengthening and preventive character.

In oncology support, attention is devoted principally to the aspects of quality of life, prolonging survival and relapse prophylaxis. Mistletoe therapy can be used in a variety of ways for these purposes:

• The body’s own defenses are strengthened by mistletoe therapy in such a way that granulocytes, lymphocytes and natural killer cells appear in the blood to an increased extent. Any degenerated cells still found in the body can therefore be combated and the risk of metastatic spread reduced.

• Mistletoe therapy can therefore improve the immune system weakened by surgery, anaesthesia, radiotherapy and chemotherapy in its role against cancer. A healthy immune system, i.e. one which reacts in a variety of ways, makes relapses less likely. To this extent, mistletoe therapy is also a preventive measure in terms of relapse prophylaxis.

• Mistletoe therapy can reduce or make more bearable the pain which can occur in advanced stages of tumours by stimulating the release of endorphins. Endorphins are natural morphines produced by the body which have a pain-relieving action.

• The loss of appetite and the disturbed sleep pattern that frequently occur in association with a cancer disease can be eliminated or alleviated. Healthy eating and sleeping behaviour should not be underestimated as a precondition for long-term recovery. This also applies to the reduced susceptibility to infectious diseases that can be observed during mistletoe therapy.

• It has been shown in several studies that mistletoe injections have a protective effect on the genetic material (DNA) of human cells. This also explains the improved tolerance of chemotherapy or radiotherapy during mistletoe therapy.

So, there we have it. Some insight into the risks of radiotherapy and a brief look at the holistic approach to support someone through gold standard medical treatment for cancer.

For further advice about our naturopathic oncology support treatment plans or to talk about implementing optimising strategies to boost optimum health and wellbeing, please get in touch at asc@hopespring.clinic or Call 07903 239902 to book your consultation with registered Naturopath, Aliyyaa Spring ND MRN.