Mymoss,

Meow13 and Feline are so right. They don't own you, YOU OWN YOU! They can advise you, should be fair and impartial, but they are your employee, not the other way around. I still regret having let them ruin my chest, complicate my reconstruction immeasurably. I have heart damage from the rads despite the "Breath Hold Technique" They Promised me they wouldn't damage my heart. Either they didn't know what the hell they were doing, or they lied.

sdaniel, I have this pain in my back. My BACK! Because they burned me straight through to my back. I remember the color change of the skin on my back and I still have this knot in the muscles there that never went away, 4 years later. Every time I get a massage they notice it. It wasn't there before they fried the crap out of me. Mental defectives at Cancerland. They shouldn't have a license.

Bonnie, I had hardening of my skin,, it was horribly tight, TIGHT. It was also stiff and thick and inflexible, like BOOT LEATHER. That awful problem is caused by the enormously common disaster they never mention called Radiation Fibrosis. It is a ongoing situation of increasing fibrosis complicated by the severe loss of Circulation at the microvascular level. I am on Pentoxifylline 400mg three times per day/Vitamin E 400IU three times per day and I also apply a Prescription Compounded Topical Cream with Pentoxifylline 5%/Vitamin E 1%, once or twice per day to all the areas that were tight. OPERATIVE WORDS were tight. It is much better thsn it was. Bug one of those docs you have to look up the research and give this a try. It might help you, you won't know if you don't try. What do you have to loose?

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This is just a small selection of the studies. Read up!

Randomized trial of pentoxifylline and vitamin E vs standard follow-up after breast irradiation to prevent breast fibrosis, evaluated by tissue compliance meter.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22846413

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19540105

Eur J Cancer. 2009 Sep;45(14):2488-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2009.05.015. Epub 2009 Jun 17.

Pentoxifylline and vitamin E treatment for prevention of radiation-induced side-effects in women with breast cancer: a phase two, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised clinical trial (Ptx-5).

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Also found info on treatment of Capsular Contracture using Low Level Laser Therapy to resolve or greatly improve it.

Reduce skin fibrosis & possibly breast implant contracture after radiation therapy: vitamin E & pentoxifylline

Aug 1, 2011 Brian D. Lawenda, M.D.

Most patients typically develop only minimal skin fibrosis after their radiation therapy, however for those who have a more significant degree of fibrosis I often recommend a combination of vitamin E (400 I.U. twice a day) andpentoxifylline (400 mg, three times each day).

Fibrosis can develop months-to-years after radiation therapy to any region of the body, but is most common in theextremities, breasts (read more about implant contracture, below) and head and neck where higher radiation doses are often required on or just below the skin surface.

How does this treatment work?

It is not entirely clear how these molecules work to reduce fibrosis.

Vitamin E may act as a antioxidant, helping to prevent ongoing free radical damage to the radiated tissues.

Pentoxifylline may be involved in blocking the molecular signaling pathway that is responsible for the development of fibrosis as a response to inflammation and injury. Additionally, pentoxifylline increases the flexibility and permeability of red blood cells which enables them to more easily bring oxygen to the tissues and carry carbon dioxide away. It is because of this mechanism that pentoxifylline is used in the management of peripheral artery disease, leg ulcers, strokes, high-altitude sickness, eye and ear disorders, and sickle cell disease and diabetic neuropathy.

Results of treatment:

Significant improvement in pain, tightness, muscle strength, edema and range of motion have all been reported with this treatment.

It seems that the earlier that this treatment is started after the development of fibrosis the quicker the response, however this combination therapy is still effective (approximately 60-70% reduction in fibrosis) even when started many years after radiation therapy.

Have patience:

It is important to recognize that this medication combination can take 6-48 months to achieve the best possible results. In one study, it took a median of 16 months to achieve a 68% reduction in fibrosis for those who started treatment within 6 years of completing radiation therapy and a median of 28 months for those who started treatment greater than 6 years after completing radiation therapy. Relapses were found to occur more commonly among patients who took this treatment for less than 12 months.

Duration of treatment:

• For severe skin fibrosis, I recommend that treatment continue for 3 or more years.
• For mild-to-moderate fibrosis, I recommend that treatment continue for at least 1 year.

An increasingly common issue: Breast implant contracture following radiation therapy

As more patients undergo breast reconstruction (with eithertissue transfer/rotational techniques or implant prostheses), it has become more common in oncology and plastic surgery practices to have to address breast cancer treatments in this setting.

All patients with breast implants or expanders will eventually develop scar tissue (fibrosis) surrounding the prosthesis as a consequence of the body's normal immune/inflammatory response to a foreign body. This fibrotic response varies in severity among individuals, but it is estimated that up to 25% of women with breast implants undergo revision surgery (at 10 years) due to implant contracture (shrinking and or hardening of tissue surrounding the implant). Following radiation therapy, implant contracture rates are increased due to the effects of radiation fibrosis. (picture on left: This patient developed an implant contracture after radiation therapy to to her right breast and implant. The superior implant displacement and circumferential tightening are common findings.)

Although the rates or lower in women who select breast reconstruction with their own tissues (tissue transfer or rotational techniques), they are also at a higher risk of developing contracture and fibrosis of their reconstructed breast after radiation therapy to these tissues.

Vitamin E and pentoxifylline are being investigated as a prophylactic therapy to reduce the incidence and severity of implant contractures or implant loss after receiving radiation therapy to the chest wall or breast in the setting of breast cancer treatment. The results of these investigations will be important in helping us better direct our management of this condition.

Starting this treatment during radiation therapy is not recommended, as vitamin E may reduce the efficacy of radiation.

Bottom Line:

Vitamin E and pentoxifylline is a useful therapy for patients with radiation-induced fibrosis. It can reduce the signs and symptoms of this condition dramatically in the majority of those who continue taking it for at least 6-12 months (or longer in cases of severe, long-standing fibrosis.)

The use of vitamin E and pentoxifylline following radiation therapy to reduce the risk of breast implant contracture and failure is under investigation.

If you think that you might benefit from a course of vitamin E and pentoxifylline, discuss this with you radiation oncologist.

The dosing is:

• Vitamin E (I recommend you buy "mixed tocopherols", as you want to include more than just the standard "alpha tocopherol" form): 400 I.U. twice a day and
• Pentoxifylline (ask your doctor for a prescription): 400 mg, three times each day

I will just say that when I had Leucocytosis and Anemia (low white blood cells and low nu bers Red Blood Cells)occur during Chemo the nurse warned me to stay clear of sick people. Instead, I went back to my a Oncology Naturopath and got infusions of high dose IV Vitamin C. When I went back the next week my WBC and Hematocrit had increased to almost normal. My Oncologist was really cutting edge and was glad I didn't have to start on medications for anemia and low white blood cell counts. I had the high dose IV Vitamin C every 2 or 3 weeks during Chemo. One of the really great things about high dose IV Vitamin C is that it acts as a Pro -oxidant, and has actually been proven to kill all different kind of Cancer cells.

High-dose vitamin C makes cancer treatment more effective, trial shows

Published Fri 31 Mar 2017

By Ana Sandoiu

Common treatment options for cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, can be expensive and sometimes ineffective. However, a new clinical trial tests the effect of high-dose vitamin C in combination with standard treatment on health outcomes for patients with cancer.

A new clinical trial shows that a high dose of vitamin C can improve health outcomes for patients who are undergoing conventional cancer treatment.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, together with surgeon Ewan Cameron, first hypothesized the clinical benefits of vitamin C for treating people with cancer.

Since then, further studies in animals and cancer cell cultures suggested that a high concentration of ascorbic acid might prevent and treat cancer.

More recent studies have examined the combined effect of high-dose vitamin C and conventional cancer treatment. Some of this research showed that patients who received the combined treatment had a slower progression of the disease, while others have suggested that the side effects of chemotherapy were less pronounced among those who also took high doses of vitamin C.

To obtain a high dose in these studies, vitamin C is usually administered using intravenous infusion. Vitamin C has a short half-life of only 2 hours in the human body, which is why it must be administered in high doses as a treatment.

A new clinical trial studies the effect of giving between 800 and 1,000 times the daily recommended dose of vitamin C to patients with brain and lung cancer.

The new research was led by scientists at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and the results were published in the journal Cancer Cell.

Vitamin C passes human safety trial

As part of the human safety trial, 11 patients with brain cancer who were undergoing standard chemotherapy and radiation therapy were also administered three weekly intravenous infusions of vitamin C for 2 months, and then two weekly infusions for 7 months.

Each infusion raised the patients' blood levels of vitamin C to 20,000 micromoles (μM). The average level of vitamin C in adults is approximately 70 μM.

Overall, the treatment was tolerated well. The team noted very few minor side effects, such as dry mouth or rare and brief episodes of high blood pressure.

This safety test was the first phase of a series of clinical trials that will investigate whether high-dose vitamin C can effectively increase the lifespan and quality of life for patients that are being treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

For now, the data from the phase I trial show that patients with glioblastoma survived for 4 to 6 months longer than the average survival time noticed in patients who undergo conventional treatment alone. Specifically, patients who also received high doses of ascorbic acid survived for 18 to 22 months compared with 14 to 16 months, which is the typical survival rate for glioblastoma.

For the upcoming phase II of the clinical trials, the scientists will examine the effects of vitamin C in participants with stage 4 lung cancer as well as in those with highly aggressive brain tumors, such as glioblastoma.

How vitamin C weakens cancer cells

The mechanism that might explain the potential efficacy of vitamin C in treating lung and brain cancer relates to the cancer cells' metabolism.

As a consequence of the faulty metabolism that occurs inside the cancer cells' mitochondria, these cells produce abnormally high levels of so-called redox active iron molecules. These molecules react with vitamin C and form hydrogen peroxide and hydrogen peroxide-derived free radicals.

Scientists think that these free radicals drive cancer cell death by damaging the cells' DNA. The free radicals are also thought to weaken the cancer cells and make them more vulnerable to radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

"This paper reveals a metabolic frailty in cancer cells that is based on their own production of oxidizing agents that allows us to utilize existing redox active compounds, like vitamin C, to sensitize cancer cells to radiation [therapy] and chemotherapy."
Garry Buettner, study co-author

Co-senior author Douglas Spitz also comments on the significance of the findings:

"This is a significant example of how knowing details of potential mechanisms and the basic science of redox active compounds in cancer versus normal cells can be leveraged clinically in cancer therapy," he explains. "Here, we verified convincingly that increased redox active metal ions in cancer cells were responsible for this differential sensitivity of cancer versus normal cells to very high doses of vitamin C."

If the approach proves effective in future clinical trials as well, the new treatment could also be significantly less costly than the standard treatment. To put this into perspective, 9 months of intravenous vitamin C treatment as part of the phase II trial currently costs less than one dose of chemotherapy.

"The majority of cancer patients we work with are excited to participate in clinical trials that could benefit future patient outcomes down the line. Results look promising but we are not going to know if this approach really improves therapy response until we complete these phase II trials."Bryan Allen, co-senior author