In a recent story on ABCnews.com, it was reported that “…..Many of our body’s internal processes are cyclical. There are daily patterns, such as waking and sleeping, monthly patterns, such as a woman’s menstrual cycle, and even seasonal patterns, such as those that cause seasonal affective disorder (SAD) during the winter months, but doctors are only recently beginning to understand the impact of these rhythms on other conditions well enough to treat their patients more effectively.they improve based on when they are given to a patient is called chronotherapy.And by making use of this good timing, doctors are finding that they are more effectively treating a wide range of conditions such as asthma , arthritis and cancer, while reducing side effects. effect.”
According to Dr. Michael Smolensky, co-author of The Body Clock Guide to Better Health, “When anticancer drugs are administered chronobiologically, patients can tolerate higher and more potent doses than would otherwise be possible.” .
Keith Block, MD, one of the nation’s leading cancer specialists, has been using chronotherapy with his patients since 1999. “This method of delivering chemotherapy is revolutionary and has been shown in large randomized trials to have the potential to improve survival,” says Dr. Block, Dr. Block, who is also the medical/scientific director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care and Optimal Health in Evanston, Illinois. “Current research indicates that Cis-Platin is best given between 4 and 6 p.m. It has found that patients receiving chronotherapy often reduce what would have been recurring side effects of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fatigue. This is This is important because the debilitation caused by chemotherapy can cause patients to reduce or even stop treatments that might otherwise help them win the battle with cancer.”
Randy López was diagnosed with advanced colon cancer at age 35. Fighting for his life, he underwent chemotherapy that left him weak and debilitated. In less than a year, he received more devastating news: the cancer had metastasized to his liver. The prognosis was grim. In fact, López and his doctors believed that his time was running out. After working with Dr. Block and undergoing chronotherapy, Lopez, now 42, is cancer free. He will attend the September 30th national meeting of the Colon Cancer Alliance (CCA) in New York, where Dr. Block will address the CCA and explain how, while time was not on Randy’s side, time was literally the key to your successful recovery.
One of the main problems with this type of treatment has been logistics: figuring out how to deliver chemotherapy in exactly timed doses. Dr. Block brought technology to the US that delivers chemotherapy through a pump designed to precisely program up to four infusion channels simultaneously based on a patient’s individual needs. Highly portable and small enough to fit in a fanny pack, patients can maintain full mobility, play sports and enjoy a full night’s sleep, while receiving their cancer therapy at the specified time.
Keith I. Block, MD is co-founder and medical/scientific director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Care and Optimal Health in Evanston, Illinois (www.blockmd.com). Block uses research-based treatment methodologies that combine the best of Western medicine with complementary treatments in nutritional pharmacology, psychotherapy, meditation, exercise, yoga, etc. Block is editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Integrative Cancer Therapies, published by SAGE Science Press and indexed in MEDLINE and Index Medicus. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Medicine, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacognosy (the branch of pharmacology that deals with drugs in their natural state and with medicinal herbs and other plants) at the UIC School of Pharmacy. Additionally, Dr. Block participates in collaborative research with university facilities in the United States and Israel.