We have been exploring for more than a decade and not only had miserable experiences, but also revelled in the joy of success. I have compassion for those patients who have failed to have satisfactory therapeutic results because of medical incompetence and therapeutic limitations. I also would like to express my gratitude to patients from whom I have gained experience. I am happy, delighted and grateful for those people who had been treated successfully, gained long-term survival and even been cured, it is these patients that give us the hope for cancer treatment.
It has been through countless failures and successes that have pushed us to come up with the “3C + P” model and “PPS” model (Figure 52). If surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the three indispensable therapies, the “3C + P” is supplementary for these traditional therapies. Basic ideas and practices of this model are listed as follows:
Indications: mainly for mid-term and late stage cancers, in other words, the model is for patients with advanced cancers, including: 1) Non-resectable solid tumors, such as liver cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, breast cancer and soft tissue tumors (sarcomas); 2) Cancers that are not sensitive to radiotherapy or chemotherapy and patients had failed to do chemotherapy and radiotherapy; 3) Recurrent cancers; 4) benign tumour that is difficult to remove, such as giant neurofibroma, breast fibroadenoma, uterine fibroid.
For those cancers which can be removed from the technical consideration (small tumors or early stage cancers), such as liver cancer and lung cancer. If the patient is old or their general condition is poor, or liver and lung function are poor and cannot tolerate a surgery, minimally invasive ablation therapy (cryosurgery) can be recommended. In order to maintain the breast integrity or aesthetics, breast cancer patients can choose the minimally invasive treatment-cryotherapy.
Objective: To prolong survival time and improve the quality of life for middle and advanced cancer patients.
Methods:
Cryosurgecal Ablation, CSA: Guided by medical imaging tools (ultrasound, CT, MRI), a cryo-probe is inserted into the tumor, and then an ice ball is formed around the tumor by lowering the temperature of the probe to minus 160-170 degrees Celsius. This is then rewarmed, and then frozen again, followed by thawing. This is repeated two to three times, resulting in the destruction of tumor cells. The whole process takes about sixty minutes.
Cancer Microvascular Intervention, CMI: One or several types of chemotherapy drugs are embedded into tiny particles or sealed within them. Guided by microcatheter, these tiny particles containing minimal doses of chemical drugs are inserted into tiny capillary vessels supplying blood to the tumor. The chemotherapy drugs pass through the wall of the capillary vessels into the tumor. As its concentration is forty times higher than the general chemotherapy, cancerous cells are destroyed. Tiny particles cannot pass through the compact walls of normal capillaries. Hence, chemotherapy drugs embedded/sealed inside tiny particles will not cause damage to other parts of the body. Furthermore, the overall side effects to the body are reduced to the minimum.
Combined Immunotherapy For Cancer, CIC: A variety of special methods are applied to repair, replenish, redeploy or activate the body’s immune cells to develop natural or adaptive anti-cancer effects. Its purpose is to eliminate residual cancer cells, or prevent new cancer cell generation.
Personalized Therapy, P: Based on analysis of patient's condition and imaging, biochemistry and molecular biology (related gene or gene mutation) test results, appropriate treatment and medication will be selected from the overall and molecular levels.
After a patient finishes the main treatment cycle and is discharged, the cancer relapse prevention or maintenance stage begins. The PPS model therefore, is an ongoing prediction and prevention system which is applied to the patient. We use molecular biology, biochemistry and imaging techniques to predict the likelihood of tumor progression and prevent cancer recurrence, considering the daily life, psychological and immunomodulatory factors.