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View Full Version : Hope for pain-free cancer cure!!



Samarkadian
April 12th, 2007, 03:05 PM
Here is article from Rediff.com about a new study about cancer and related thearpies.
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According to latest reports, a revolutionary new study may boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs used to fight cancer and significantly curb the usual, horrible side effects.


'In addition to making chemotherapy more effective at eliminating tumour cells from the body, the study suggests that it is also possible to lower dosage levels to a point where toxic side effects from the drugs are unlikely to occur,' says a report in The Independent.


The pioneering medical technique called RNA interference focused on 'silencing' or 'switching off' genes that appear to be turned on as part of the cancerous process, says another report in the Daily Mail.


In the American study, it was found that when those genes were silenced, the tumour cells become significantly -- as much as 10,000 times more, it was found in an experiment with the anti-cancer drug Taxol -- more susceptible to anti-cancer drugs.


But it may be years before human cancer patients can benefit from the findings of the study. The Independent report quotes a scientist involved in the study as saying at least three to five years more of clinical trials are needed.
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Beside this there is institute inMumbai for poor cancer patient..Detailed article is as under from rediff.com
Cancer remains the most dreaded disease of our age.

For the poor, being diagnosed with cancer is often as good as a death certificate, because of the expensive treatment process.

But thanks to a retired political science professor's efforts, it need not be.

The Cancer Aid and Research Foundation in Byculla, in the heart of central Mumbai, gives poor cancer patients money for treatment and medicines.

Established in 2001 by Professor A A Kazi -- retired head of the department of political science, St Xavier's College, Mumbai -- it provides cancer patients' families a place to stay while the patient receives treatment and also buys them tickets to return home.

If the patients are Mumbai-based, the Foundation provides free ambulance transport.

When the patient approaches the Foundation, s/he is first interviewed. S/he then fills up a form, which is scrutinised by a committee, which decides how much money can be sanctioned. The Foundation helps with anything between 50 per cent to all of the cost of treatment.

The money is sent to the hospital for treatment and to the medical shop for medicines.

Every day, about five to 10 needy people come to the Foundation, sometimes from as far away as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal. Mostly, patients are referred to the Foundation by social workers at Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital. The Foundation receives requests by post and e-mail too.

The Foundation -� which has 33 employees and 20,000 donors -- started off in a small way in 2001 by helping five patients with a total cost of Rs 17,500. Last year, that amount grew to over Rs 6 million.

"I keep my donors informed about fund usage always; they also know everything that we do. When they are satisfied with what we do with their money, they send us more," says Professor Kazi, who wants to build a 100-bed hospital, a cancer diagnostic centre, a hostel and more within 10 years.

"We have goodwill all over the world, we will fulfil our projects in half the planned time," he adds.

The Foundation classifies patients into three categories: Curative, adjuvant and palliative. Curative is self-explanatory, adjuvant means the patient has half a chance of surviving and palliative means terminally ill.

"The patient has to be willing to fight the disease. We give them hope but they have to be mentally strong too," says Kausar, who works at the Foundation.

"Our counsellors talk to them (the patients) and their families. We have to teach them to purge negative thoughts and instil positivism," he adds.

Cancer is curable if detected early. Smoking and chewing tobacco are the biggest causes of the disease in India.

"Passive smoke is more dangerous than the smoke inhaled by the smoker," emphasises Kausar.

"Given a choice between smokers and chewers (of tobacco), I would prefer the chewer as he endangers only himself and not his neighbour," says Dr Sivaramakrishnan in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.

Documents needed to approach the Cancer Aid and Research Foundation:

1. Hospital case papers.

2. Original cost certificate.

3. Photocopy of ration card.

4. Income certificate.

5. Two passport size photographs.

Address:

Cancer Aid and Research Foundation
Byculla Municipal school building
N M Joshi Marg
Mumbai: 400 011
Telephone: 022-22300700
E-mail: cancerarfoundation@yahoo.com