Russians find new way of curing cancer

Scientists from the Russian Central Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatic Surgery have created a new method of treating cancer.

The method still has been used only as an experiment, but has already won the approval of foreign experts.

Every tumor has its own “network” of blood vessels, and to stop its growth, these vessels must be blocked so that the tumor would not be feed with blood anymore. Thus, the inventors of the new method have suggested to block them with special granules. For vessels of a larger diameter, instead of granules, metal spirals are used. When introduced into a patient’s body, these spirals go through his or her arteries and unfold themselves when they reach the place of their “destiny”.

To introduce these granules and spirals into a patient’s body, only an injection is needed.

“In fact, the procedure is no less traumatic than a prick of a syringe,” one of the creators of the new method, Professor Alexander Balberkin, says. “But it is very effective – at least, according to preliminary data. However, it still cannot be recommended as a universal method – it is effective only if combined with other methods.”

Unfortunately, the new method is ineffective against some kinds of tumors. For example, it is hard to stop the growth of a gristle tumor by it. Still, the method has proven to be effective against bone or bone marrow tumors and can be recommended to patients for whom an operation is contraindicated.

“However, the new method still needs a more thorough approbation,” Professor Balberkin says.

“We have conducted about 600 operations,” he says, “but we still don’t have reliable statistic data. It is too early to sum up the results – some time must pass so that we are able to watch the condition of our patients. At the same time, we can already say that, at least in some cases, the results may be positive. For example, a new method may be useful while preparing a patient for an operation – it enables to lower the blood losses several times.”

Professor Balberkin says that doctors from Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics already show great interest in the new method. Moreover, German oncologists are already using it quite successfully for curing uterine cancer, kidney cancer and spine tumors – although, at first, German doctors were very skeptical about the method suggested by their Russian colleagues.