Few days before the Spring Festival 2008, I received a letter from a microbiologist with a research institute in Guangzhou. She is also a classmate of Professor Zhou Dianyuan, a veteran scholar of Gastroenterology. The letter is as follow:
Dear President Xu,
How are you? Happy Chinese New Year to you.
I am a classmate of Zhou Dianyuan and the twins sister of Mdm. Sun, a former patient of yours. My sister is a gynecologist. After her retirement she was found to have diabetes, coronary disease, hypertension, hepatitis C and other diseases. In a physical examination in May 2003, it was found her AFP was 1000+ μg/l. After a thorough examination, a tumor of 6.3cm diameter was found in the left lobe of the liver. Several hospitals in Tianjing and Beijing refused to resect the tumor surgically. Later on she was given a month of invasive therapy in a hospital in Tianjing. However, the tumor was not eradicated while she herself had become very weak. Later, we found out about your hospital from the internet and learned about the benefits of cryosurgical ablation, which is a minimally invasive therapy. We therefore persuaded her to go to your hospital for treatment. When she flew to Guangzhou on 28th December 2003, she was in a very weak condition. She had ascites, very low plasma protein, and her leucocyte count was 2000. She had her first cryosurgical ablation on 6th January 2004 and she returned to Tianjing on 11th January 2004. Her AFP dropped to 300μg/l. On 26th April 2004, her f AFP went up and new lesions were found. She had her second cryosurgical ablation on 29th April. I do not know when her third admission was. At that time I was not in Guangzhou and I was told over the phone that she had a second cancer recurrence and wanted to dispel her portal vein tumor embolus. Tumor thrombus is a latent threat as it may lead to blood vessel rupture and serious bleeding. I learned from my sister that you and Dr. Niu held several discussions and finally decided to use percutaneous ethanol injection though the success rate was 1/5 only. Fortunately, the thrombus was gone. It was not found in several image detections later. My sister was very grateful to you and Dr. Niu. The fourth time she was admitted was on 12th May 2007. As I was in Bei Daihe, she was alone. She was very thankful to all the medical staff and patients for taking care of her. She said the hospital was like a big and cozy family to her. She was particularly thankful to Dr. Niu who bore all the risks to provide her with very thorough treatment. Her AFP dropped to a range of 20-60μg/l. Now she is fine. She has leisure walk daily, does some house chores and she has become stronger. If she had not gone for treatment in your hospital, it would be impossible for her to have survived for 4 years and six months. It is indeed a miracle that her survival is more than 55 months. She is very satisfied. All the other liver patients that she knew had passed away; they were all physically stronger and younger than she, the only difference was the treatment methods and they were all dead. She had told them about your hospital before.
I am not going to write more as I know that you are very busy. My sincere thanks go to you and Dr. Niu.
Wishing all of you, your staff and Dr. Niu a happy Chinese New Year!
Yours sincerely,
Sun xxx
24th January 2008.
Two weeks later, I received a letter from her sister, a gynecologist. The letter is as follow;
Dear President Xu,
Greetings to you! I received a phone call from my sister telling me that you were very concerned about my health condition. I was very touched by that. I am fine. With the disease I had, I never thought that I could survive till now. I am very indebted to the dedicated treatment provided by your hospital. I was given interventional chemotherapy after the diagnosis but it resulted in ascites and my condition deteriorated. After learning about your hospital in the internet, I went to Guangzhou immediately. After several treatments, my sickness was under control. At present I can manage my daily life myself. Except for being slow in movement (as previously I suffered a cerebral embolism due to my diabetes) there is no other discomfort. My appetite, food intake quantity and other life indicators are satisfactory. I and my relatives are amazed. I have AFP test regularly without any other treatment. I thank you sincerely for your concern. My house address is: xxxxx South Hong Hua Qi Road, Tianjing.
Yours sincerely,
Sun XXX
28th January 2008.
Up to now, Sun XXX has been surviving for eighty-two months. She is not given chemotherapy but custom-made therapies.
When it comes to liver cancer, we must be particularly cautious with chemotherapy. Once there was an article from the USA reporting that PFS of liver cancer patient under chemotherapy are shorter than those of who were not given chemotherapy. The reason is simple. Liver is the only organ with regenerative capability. When a finger is cut, it will not grow back. It is different with liver. When a lobe of liver is resected, it will grow back within a few months. It is the hepatocellular apotosis stimulates hepatic regeneration factor. Chemotherapeutic drugs can cause hepatocellular apotosis that leads to hepatic regeneration. However, chemotherapy cannot kill cancer cells which are innately insensitive to chemotherapy but, in the contrary, it enhances cancer growth.