Overview

This web page discusses ovarian cancer, which may have a different mechanism and treatment from other forms of cancer. Please see Cancer Overview for general information that is common to all forms of cancer.

Please see conventional, complimentary and alternative medical treatments for important background information regarding the different types of medical treatments discussed on this page. Naturopathic, Complimentary and Alternative treatments that may be considered include:


Etiology

[Friedman2013] has presented a compelling model for the prevention and treatment of breast and prostate cancer. An important feature of this model is observation that synthetic (non-bio-identical) estrogens and progestins actually raise the risk of breast and prostate cancer. On the other hand, it appears [Go to cancer.govcancer.gov], [Hankinson1992], [CDC1987], [Schildkraut2002] that synthetic estrogens do not affect ovarian cancer, and synthetic progestins actually reduce the incidence of ovarian cancer by up to 50%. Synthetic progestins have also been found by some [Narod1998], [Antoniou2009], but not all [Modan2001], studies to be protective against ovarian cancer in women with BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 mutations.

Dr. Weyrich notes that mifepristone (RU-486) (FDA-approved as a "morning-after" abortifacient) is antagonistic to progesterone-receptor-alpha, and has been shown to reduce levels of the tumor-promoting protein BCL2 in BRCA-1/BRCA-2 mutation-positive individuals. Dr. Weyrich speculates that a similar mechanism might be exerted by other synthetic progestins in the case of ovarian cancer. [Friedman2007], [Poole2006].

The differences between different types of cancers require further study.


Treatment

Naturopathic, Complimentary and Alternative Treatments

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN)

[LDN_Cancer] reports that the late Dr. Bernard Bihari treated approximately 450 patients with some form of cancer, with a 60% success rate, almost all of who had failed to respond to standard treatments. In particular, 4 patients with ovarian cancer appeared to be in remission. In one case, a patient with treatment-resistant ovarian cancer appeared to be in remission after 3 months of LDN treatment, but after another 11 months, suffered a relapse and passed away four months thereafter, despite continuing the LDN. [Dr. Weyrich: LDN is not a panacea, although it may buy a patient a significant amount of "quality time". Concurrent treatment with progesterone or progestins may have extended the remission longer.].

Dr. Weyrich has been trained in the use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). However, Dr. Weyrich has not treated any cases of ovarian cancer with LDN.

Please see What is Low Dose Naltrexone? for more information.


References