5 Lifesaving Personalized Questions for Better Cancer Treatment

Why didn’t my chemotherapy work? This is a question that cancer patients know all too well, and becoming unresponsive to chemotherapy is all too common. So what is a cancer patient supposed to do to better the odds? Well, better cancer treatment may indeed be achieved by a more accurate and deeper diagnosis. So what does this mean? Based on many years of clinical experience our medical group has constructed five essential questions that can be lifesaving turning points for patients and unfortunately these questions are almost never addressed. It all starts with understanding that each patient’s expression of their disease or “cancer” is unique, and making sure each patient is matched with the best of targeted personalized treatment options.

Remembering that no two cancers are “exactly” alike, is the key to our approach. Here are the five questions every cancer patient should be asked and why they matter.



  1. What caused the cancer to begin with?
  2. When we ask our patients this question, the majority of them say their practitioners have never addressed this or had no idea. Carcinogens such as infections, chemical toxins and heavy metals can represent the origins of the disease, but looking deeper, genes can become altered and cause cancer mutations. These factors can also fuel both immune system problems and continuous inflammation and spread or metastasis. Part of our job as medical practitioners is to find treatments to match to the genetic biomarkers of cancer.


  3. How can we enhance treatment selection and expose molecular and genetic targets for each individual patient? (what things in the body can we fix or focus on to improve the effectiveness of treatment)
  4. Wouldn’t it be nice if a patient was able to know if their chemotherapy showed to be effective before starting treatment rather than relying on statistics? With in-depth testing we find better treatment options can be revealed. It is not uncommon to find patients on the wrong treatments all together (in fact we see this quite regularly inside our own practice). We are always striving to find the best targets (whether conventional or natural) and to ensure that our patients have the best treatment options available to them. This is accomplished via a series of personalized tests and matching them to scientific targets, many of which we have had to develop.


  5. What genetic issues does the patient have in regards to hereditary (inborn) issues of metabolism and elimination?
  6. Some patients may be better equipped genetically to metabolize agents and eliminate toxicity from the body than others and that may explain why some patients have an advantage over others. Defects in genes or enzymatic pathways allow for the accumulation of toxins and further build carcinogens within the body. This means that the things that can cause cancer can stay in the body longer, thereby increasing the risk for development or reoccurrence of cancer. When tested and treated correctly many times they can be resolved, thereby enhancing the entire treatment for the patient.

  7. What epigenetic factors or modifications of gene expression are contributing to the micro-environment of a patient’s cancer?
  8. Epigenetic shifts [have the capacity] to cause changes in the body that bring about cancer and can further allow cancers to mutate, making them unresponsive to treatment. We already mentioned environmental toxins, heavy metals and infections that commonly affect epigenetics. However, the bodies shift from aerobic (requiring oxygen) to anaerobic respiration (not requiring oxygen) can be a vital indicator of cancer. Once cancer cells shift to anaerobic metabolism the environment becomes acidic. These factors can contribute to shifts in the epigenetics within cells. Therefore it’s important to return these metabolic micro-environment parameters to normal for patient. Many times this is made worse by chemotherapy itself.


  9. Finally, what is the status of the patients’ immune system and can it be targeted to fight their cancer?
  10. In a normal and healthy patient the immune system knows how to kill cancerous and precancerous cells. This must be re-established. When doing treatments such as chemo, radiation, and surgery, we have seen all of these methods negatively affect the immune system. Immunotherapy is a promising course for cancer treatment. It represents a completely independent manner to kill cancer cells without chemotherapy and radiation and most patients never experience immunotherapy to its full potential. With the advent of monoclonal antibody immunotherapy, knowing how to enhance and target cancer cells in a personalized manner makes all the difference. It’s important to enhance immunity correctly.


    The bottom line, in our opinion, is that these five questions are the key to achieving better cancer care. It’s all about having the best diagnostics and treatments to provide the much needed advantage patients require, and that’s our approach. If you have any questions about how to effectively treat cancer, contact us.