Our Approach to Cancer Treatment

At Seattle Integrative Cancer Center, we provide a variety of options for treating cancer while preserving or even enhancing the patient’s immune system. Our treatments include low dose chemotherapy, naturopathic oncology, integrative medicine, nutritional support, natural medicine and nutritional supplement consultation. Our patients are consistently enjoying exceptional results from our treatment and our doctors are focused on innovation as they continue their cancer research.

Restoring Vibrant Health

Our Goal is Long Term Health: Our goal is to help you be restored to perfect health and to maintain that health.  Due to the additional nutrition and other health coaching, many of our patients report that they actually  feel better than they did before they became sick. Our emphasis is to strengthen the immune system and help your health to be maintained.

Restore Vibrant Health

We believe that cancer is a disease with a multitude of causes from genetic to environmental, to nutritional and psychosocial. To treat this disease we must view the individual as a whole person and address every aspect of the disease. It is possible not only to survive a diagnosis of advanced cancer, but to thrive. Our practice is at the forefront of understanding and implementing innovative treatments for clients with advanced cancer. We are constantly researching emerging and promising cancer treatment protocols. Because any single approach, no matter how promising is inadequate, we practice integrative cancer care. Hope abounds in our practice. We never give up on anyone. At the same time, we are vigilant in exploring options that may not be considered by other practitioners.

Conventional vs. Integrative Treatments

Conventional treatments that focus only on the cancer itself, may be only touching the surface of the disease. To successfully treat cancer, we must pay close attention to all the interrelated aspects of cancer causes and the multiple effects it has on the affected individual. Our approach is to treat the whole person and not just the disease. Our extensive practical experience in managing many advanced cancer patients in this way over more than a decade has strengthened our belief that these complementary approaches, with an eye focused on the immune system, represent an ideal model of cancer treatment today.

We Believe in Supporting Your Immune System

Immune System Support

We believe that the patient’s immune system, which is the product of human evolution, is at the center of our defense against all illnesses including cancer. Enhancing and supporting an effective immune system is critical to successful cancer treatment. In contrast, treatments that suppress or damage the immune system such as conventional chemotherapy, especially when given without the concurrent support of the immune system can be counter-productive in the control of cancer. It is not uncommon that in conventional treatments, advanced cancer patients may die from the effects of the treatment. We prefer the use of cancer treatment approaches that are gentler to the body and can positively affect a patient’s immune response to cancer. This includes metronomic chemotherapy, finding ways to strengthen and improve mind-body interaction, the use of nutritional and dietary supplements and the judicious use of immune response modifiers.

Metronomic Chemotherapy

Metronomic Chemotherapy

Clinical studies of metronomic chemotherapy have found treatment successes with many types of cancers. These include prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and myeloma. Angiogenesis is the formation of blood vessels that supply the oxygen and nutrients that cancerous tissues require to grow cancer. Cancer research and treatment seeks to support anti-angiogenesis or the development of angiogenesis inhibitors. Since the early 1900’s there has been considerable hope that anti-angiogenesis drugs will be the ‘magic bullet’ to inhibit the growth of cancer. Unfortunately, it has been found that frequently these drugs extend life for only a few months on average as cancer builds resistance to the drugs. In fact, there has been some thought that while they inhibit the growth of the primary tumor, the traditional administration of these agents in large doses, may actually promote metastasis. The exciting finding is that these same drugs, administered in low-level doses may demonstrate anti-angiogenic activity. Metronomic administration of chemotherapy drugs may actually serve as a “call to action” for the immune system to find and fight the proliferation of tumors. This research suggests that perhaps metronomic chemotherapy may help induce tumor dormancy, literally causing cancerous tumors to become inactive.

Emerging Technologies

Nanoceuticals for Oncology

Nanoceuticals for oncology is the new frontier. It is the future of medicine. We are positioned to conduct clinical trials and bring nanoceutical oncology drugs to market in just three years. We are inviting you to get in on the ground floor. Here is the power of nanoceutical oncology.  Francisco Contreras, MD. has addressed the potential of developing nano carriers (nano drug delivery systems) to deliver nano doses of chemotherapy only to malignant cells, or better yet, to deliver non-toxic nutrients with the potential to kill cancer cells. This potential is available now because Satya Prakash, Phd has already developed and patented nano drug delivery systems.

Continuing Research Efforts

There is much research that needs to be done. We need to understand better the mechanisms of cytotoxic drugs known to promote anti-angiogenic activity. There is a great need for clinical studies that compare the traditional treatment approach of administering the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of chemotherapeutic drugs vs. the administration of low-dose metronomic administration. We are a new practice that brings together some of the most experienced oncologists and naturopathic physicians in the Seattle area. Nick Chen, MD, PhD is the former Medical Director of the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center. Dr. Mark Gignac is a Naturopathic Doctor with more than 35 years of professional experience, who also came to our practice from the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center.