Some opt for vitamin C therapy

By SHAWN RHEA
Courier-Post Staff

Cancer was the last concern on Donna Gudauskas' mind when she visited her gynecologist last October. The Cherry Hill resident was a happy newlywed who'd always taken care of her health, so a serious illness wasn't on her radar. But then Gudauskas' doctor found a growth during a rectal exam.

"She scheduled me for a colonoscopy," said Gudauskas, 51.

The oncologist who performed the exploratory procedure also did a biopsy. The tests came back positive for colorectal cancer. Her doctors, according to Gudauskas, recommended an aggressive course of treatment that included surgery to remove the tumor, radiation and two non-stop, 96-hour chemotherapy sessions.

"The sessions would be a week each, with a two-week break in between," Gudauskas said. "The radiation would happen daily during the chemo."

While Gudauskas was willing to have the surgery immediately, she wasn't as prepared to undergo the prescribed oncology regimen.

"It was a real radical chemo," she explained. "My reaction was, 'Wait a minute!' This is an early stage cancer. But, the (oncologist's) report said it had 'a probability of infiltrating the intestinal wall.'"

"When I started challenging the doctors on what could happen to me if I underwent the chemo -- things like my kidneys and immune systems shutting down, and that there was a chance I'd end up with a colostomy bag afterward because of the effects of the chemo, I couldn't get any answers that made sense for me to (undergo traditional treatment). So, my husband and I started looking at other options."

The couple dredged through a lot of information on the Internet and in various publications before coming across one that sent Gudauskas to Dr. Allan Magaziner, a Cherry Hill-based physician specializing in alternative medicine. Though not an oncologist, Magaziner uses intravenous vitamin C therapy as a complementary treatment for patients undergoing chemotherapy. But the physician also has a handful of patients who, like Gudauskas, have opted to forgo conventional cancer therapy.

This past February, Gudauskas began weekly intravenous vitamin C treatments at Magaziner's offices. Included in her regimen are weekly acupuncture sessions, as well as various supplements. Gudauskas believes the side effects have been minimal compared to what she could have experienced with chemotherapy and radiation. Other than a tight stomach and "smelling like a bottle of vitamins" the day after treatment, the vitamin C therapy has given her no trouble, she said.

"I'd say, initially, the reaction from some of my friends and family was "What are you doing?' But others were very supportive," said Gudauskas of her decision.

"It's a controversial treatment; I'll admit that," said Magaziner, who has been prescribing intravenous vitamin C therapy for 20 years. His therapy is based on several inconclusive studies that indicate, given intravenously, vitamin C may kill cancer cells while leaving normal, healthy cells intact.

"The studies found that if you can get high doses of vitamin C into the blood, you can activate the white blood cells to make their own form of hydrogen peroxide," Magaziner explained. "It turns out that these high levels of hydrogen peroxide attack and kill tumor cells. But, it also seems to selectively kill the cancer cells and not the healthy ones."

Dr. Vivienne Matalon, an internal medicine specialist with Lourdes Health System, also uses intravenous vitamin C to help treat cancer patients. She said a number of her patients are referred to her by their oncologists. "I use it to optimize nutritional wellness for cancer patients," said Matalon, who noted vitamin C is a well-known immune system booster, and that it may help preserve the immunities and healthy cells typically destroyed by chemotherapy. It's the destruction of immunities and healthy cells that causes many of the ill side effects associated with chemotherapy.

"I've found that if we can optimize patients' immunities, not only do they feel better, but they can tolerate the chemo and radiation better," she explained. "Some of my patients don't lose their hair, and a lot of the body pain went away once they started intravenous vitamin C."

Dr. Generosa Grana, director of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey at Cooper University Hospital, is concerned, however, that doctors offering such unproven treatments are giving false hope to cancer patients. She warned there are no studies supporting the use of vitamin C therapy in the treatment of cancer.

"Cancer patients are looking for something that works, so they are a very vulnerable population," said Grana, who added the treatment actually could be dangerous.

"The concern is we don't know what the use of vitamin C does to chemotherapy and radiation," Grana noted. "We rely on the destruction of cancerous cells in order for treatment to work. Of course, we do want the healthy cells to survive, but we don't want to interfere with (proper) treatment. So, I think you don't want people using vitamin C therapy without the trials -- without the data -- to show it's fine.

"People think its safe because it's natural, but this vitamin C is being delivered intravenously at a much higher dosage than is typical."

While there is no definitive support of the use of intravenous vitamin C in cancer treatment, some researchers believe the therapy deserves investigation.

Its use in cancer treatment was first considered in 1971 when researcher Dr. Ewan Cameron conducted a small study giving intravenous vitamin C to 50 terminally ill oncology patients who were expected to die within three months. Fifty percent of the group surpassed the 100-day mark, however, and their average survival time was 261 days. Ten percent of the group survived nearly 20 months. That early research led to a controlled study, which also showed promising results.

In 1976, a study conducted at Scotland's Vale of Levan Hospital found cancer patients given intravenous vitamin C lived about three times longer than those not given the treatment.

While scientists were encouraged by the studies, later research from the Mayo Clinic using oral vitamin C couldn't duplicate the findings. As a result, researchers concluded there was no benefit in the treatment. No subsequent major studies have taken place.

Early this year, however, a group of researchers revisited both the Cameron and Mayo Clinic studies. They also looked at three anecdotal cases of cancer patients undergoing intravenous vitamin C therapy. The study, which was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, concluded intravenous treatment delivers a level of vitamin C 50 to 70 times greater than oral treatment and that delivery method may account for Cameron's earlier findings.

Currently, the National Institutes of Health is sponsoring several trials looking at the use of vitamin C in cancer treatment, including one study for leukemia and another for multiple myeloma. Grana said she's hopeful the studies will net useful information, but advises cancer patients to wait on conclusive information before opting for such treatments.

"I think it's wonderful the NIH has embarked on them, because if there is something out there that can help my patients, I want to know about it," said Grana.

For patients such as Gudauskas, however, the risks of an unproven therapy are a gamble she's willing to take if it means avoiding the known risks associated with chemotherapy and radiation.

"There are a lot of options out there and the truth is they don't know if they work," Gudauskas admitted. "But my surgeon did a second colonoscopy at the six-month mark and the cancer hadn't returned."