Living With Cancer, recently published by Guangzhou Publishing House, is the third popular science book on cancer treatment written by Xu Kecheng, Chief President of Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital, after his Special Story in 2003 and Nothing But The Truth in 2010.
His understanding of cancer, based on his occupation as a doctor as well as his experience as a cancer survivor, has enabled him to blaze a new trail for cancer diagnosis and treatment and has pointed the way for cancer treatment. As there is no treatment available to cure cancer, Xu Kecheng and his medical team have combined local treatment with systemic treatment, aiming to control tumor progression, improve patient’s quality of life and prolong their lifespan. By doing so, they hope to enable patients to live with cancer and change cancer into a controllable chronic disease.
Living With Cancer is about
The insightful thinking of a sophisticated medical expert
The scrupulous work of a wise doctor with universal love
The true feeling of a strong cancer survivor
What is cancer? Cancer is not caused by foreign body invasion. Cancer cells are bad cells mutated from normal cells. There are numerous cells in human body. The DNA on cell nucleus carries several genes, each of which contains numerous base pair. Normal cells are replicating all the time, so is the DNA in cell nucleus. Gene mutation will occur when replication error, substitution and loss happens to a base group. Cancer cell is thus formed as mutation accumulates continuously. In this sense, each and every one of us is living with cancer. Hence, cancer is not horrible as it is the heritage of human evolution.
How to deal with the cancer cells transformed from normal cells? The cancer cells are to be eliminated but not to be annihilated completely. At present, the commonly used treatments (surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy) cannot cure cancer completely. Instead, to reach a harmony coexistence is the important theme to be pursued. It is an ideal and objective that can be attained through hard work to reach a peaceful coexistence between cancer cells and human body and convert cancer into a controllable chronic disease by controlling cancer cells with a single or combined treatment.
In his book Living With Cancer, Prof. Xu Kecheng has analyzed the truth and the secret of cancer by sharing his experience and practice in cancer treatment. There are successful and unsuccessful cases. Prof. Xu tells the story in a vivid way, and illustrates his point of view and assumptions in a simple language. Patient can get enlightenment and healthy people can also acquire knowledge by reading the book.
As a renowned expert in digestive disease with many works, Prof. Xu has been focusing on comprehensive treatment for cancer. As the first few ones in China to have introduced Cryosurgery and former president of International Society of Cryosurgery, he has combined cryosurgery (and the recently introduced NanoKnife) with other minimally invasive treatments such as vascular intervention for progressive tumor treatment. He has made a fruitful step in exploring long-time survival of cancer patients.
Prof. Xu is also a cancer survivor. It is with his unique life experience that he is able to have a better understanding of what are the best, most effective and most economic treatments for cancer patients. He is treating patients with reason as well as emotion, with which he has saved and even cured many patients who were once claimed to be hopeless. Many people are grateful for what he has done for them. He was also awarded Norman Bethune Medal, the highest award in the health system of China and the Role Model of the Times, the highest honor in China.
Living With Cancer is the crystallization of the author’s strenuous effort. Every word is carefully assessed and even the typing work is done by the author himself. It’s said that many of the articles were written at one stretch when the author was waiting at the terminal building or taking a flight. This book is complimenting with Nothing But The Truth compiled by the author in 2010, by reading which readers can have a profound understanding of the author’s philosophy of behavior and doctrine of practicing medicine.
Cancer has become a common disease. Everyone, like it or not, cannot avoid cancer for good. The new book of Prof. Xu Kecheng will make you realize that cancer is the new normality of our life. As long as we maintain a positive attitude, hold the correct idea, adopt innovative strategies, and accept appropriate method, we can coexist with cancer peacefully.
Note: In January, 2016, academician Wu Mengchao of Chinese Academy of Science, academician Wang Zhenyi and academician Tang Zhaoyou of Chinese Academy of Engineering wrote preface for the book respectively.
Chief President Xu Kecheng noted that he will give all the sales of the book to Fuda Boai Foundation under Guangdong Branch Red Cross Society of China.
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Academician Wu Mengchao wrote a preface for Living With Cancer
Professor Wu Mengchao, academician of Chinese Academy of Science and laureate of the 2005 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award, is praised as the father of hepatobiliary surgery in China.
The past century has witnessed the significant progress made in research on cancer in the medical field. Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy have developed greatly in terms of technology, curative effect and precision. The molecular biology, especially the deepened research in human genomics and proteomics, has created favorable conditions for individualized treatment and precision treatment.
However, cancer treatment remains to be a hard nut to crack in the medical field. Over the past ten years and more, the decreased mortality rate of certain types of cancer should attribute to early detection and early treatment rather than certain types of drugs. Chemotherapy couldn’t bring any actual benefits to most patients with progressive cancer; gene-based or receptor-based target therapy will also become futile in the end.
In his book Cancer: The Heritage of Evolution, the world-renowned hematologist Mel Greaves illustrated from the perspective of Darwin’s theory of evolution that cancer involves both the very ancient heritage of evolution and the recent evolution. He proposed that cancer “can be said to be an innate component of nature in a sense” and “the proximate cause or direct cause of cancer is genetic variation or mutation, which is the result under the rule of occasionality...It is restricted by and at the same time driven by evolution and it is also the inevitable product of evolution”. The insightful views of the author have reminded the medical field to treat cancer with innovative thinking and also revealed that there might be underlying causes for the repeated failure of current treatments.
Having engaged in the research of diagnosis and treatment of cancer for several decades, Professor Xu Kecheng has accumulated rich practical experience. The local ablation (Cryosurgery, NanoKnife), vascular intervention and combined immunotherapy for cancer that he have proposed and carried out have enabled some progressive cancer patients to live with cancer and to be almost free of cancer, which are valuable exploration and practice.
The object of medical research is human life. The medical system that is formed under long-term theoretical exploration and clinical trials is very practical. The findings of animal experiment are not applicable to all patients. Different patients might also show heterogeneity even if they are suffering from the same disease. Ancient Greek philosopher Hippocrates once said, “It makes sense when people say medicine is an art. As a clinician, he/she should first have a caring heart to patient and then made careful observation and analysis of patient’s condition so as to make an accurate diagnosis and implement treatment accordingly. If a clinician doesn’t regard patients as their teachers and relatives, he/she will never become an eminent doctor and bring any actual benefits to patients no matter how much theoretical knowledge he/she has acquired.”
As a first-line practitioner of clinical work, Prof. Xu has been holding a loving heart towards patients and forward thinking towards medicine. He showed even greater perseverance, devotion and spirit of innovation after he underwent operation for liver cancer, which has set a good example for all the counterparts in the medical community. Prof. Xu wrote many essays on cases he attends to by combining the latest concept for cancer treatment and published the essays on several media, which has touched many patients and people who care about cancer. Today, all the essays are compiled into a book with the title of “Living with cancer”, which is really admirable and of great significance.
“Living with cancer” should be regarded as a new concept for cancer treatment and important strategy guiding clinical treatment. As a long-time friend and counterpart of Prof. XU, I would like to congratulate him on the publication of the book and recommend this book to the general public reader.
Wu Mengchao Academician of Chinese Academy of Science
Academician Wang Zhenyi wrote a preface for Living With Cancer
Academician Wang Zhenyi (R) and Prof. Xu Kecheng
Wang Zhenyi is now an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, foreign academician of French Academy, tenured professor of Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to SJTU. He is also the laureate of the 2011 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award and the first inventor of the induction of differentiation therapy for cancer.
Prof. Xu Kecheng hope that I could write a commentary on his new book Living With Cancer, I’m very pleased to do so as I’m very delighted to have witnessed the accomplishment he has made in clinical practice. I’m convinced that I’m obliged to introduce his experience, way of thinking and innovative method in cancer treatment to clinicians so that more cancer patients can receive benefits from that. I have met with many cancer patients who have gained long time survival after being treated by Prof. Xu Kecheng and his medical team. Among them, there is a 28-year-old ovarian cancer patient. The patient was having advanced ovarian cancer with multiple metastases in the abdominal cavity and large amount of ascites. She miraculously survived after undergoing comprehensive treatments with operation as the main treatment.
It’s said that she only received 4 times of moderate treatments after operation. As of now, she has had 5-year-disease-free-survival. I can hardly believe that she almost had her cancer cured, which, I think, might be the so-called living with cancer.
Around 8 years ago, I met with Prof. Xu again after haven’t seen each other for over 20 years. During that meeting, we talked freely about the concept and assumptions for cancer treatment. I suggested him to investigate some patients who have lost survival hope in 1990 but received a nonspecific immunotherapy. We were amazed to find that 28 out of 38 patients have survived for 5 years after receiving the immunotherapy. The surprising finding has given me a profound inspiration. That is we might need to change a way of thinking in cancer treatment.
What is cancer? Ever since pathologist Rudolf Virchow founded cytopathology of cancer in 1855, cancer medicine has never made such significant progress like today. At present, a widely-recognized point-of-view among most pathologists is that cancer cells are originally normal cells. There are 40 trillion to 60 trillion cells and 35,000 genes in human body. Each gene has thousands of base pairs. When DNA is attacked by cancerogenic substance, genes tend to have mutations and have these mutations accumulated. Moreover, gene mispairing during gene replication will also cause gene mutations. The mutations are happening all the time along with our aging process, regeneration, healing and reproduction and then develop to the process of carcinogenesis. Hence, it can be said that we cannot get clear rid of cancer from a certain perspective. That is to say living with cancer is a normal state in a life entity like human being under many circumstance.
Based on the above understanding, we need to rethink the current cancer treatment. Cancer cells, transformed from normal cells, are at a twisted state of normal self. There are cancer cells as well as normal cells and tissues (such as hematopoietic cell and tissues) in cancer patients, which means that cancer cells are coexisting with cancer cells and normal cells. Therefore, simple cancer killing method kills not only cancer cells but also normal cells and sometimes kills more normal cells than normal cells. That’s the reason why some patients die of excessive chemotherapy. Research results have shown that the reason why the constantly reproduced cancer cells are not forming cancer tissues is because human body has the mechanism of confronting, eliminating and transforming the non-self cells. The induced differentiation therapy for APL by all-transretinoic acid has reached a high curative effect, which is a good example of transforming malignant cells into good ones. According to our current understanding, immunotherapy, innate and artificially-activated immunological mechanism in particular, might be an important method to control the development of cancer.
The articles in the book Living With Cancer tell about stories that Prof. Xu has come across in his clinical practice. There are success made, failures encountered, experience accumulated and lessons drawn. He never claimed he has cured cancer. As a doctor, he is happy for the successful treatment done to patients and anxious for the undesired treatment effect on patients. American doctor E. L. Trudeau once said, “To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always.” Prof. Xu and his medical team combined local treatments (such as cryosurgery, radiotherapy, vascular intervention) and systemic treatment (such as nutrition support, selective chemotherapy and traditional Chinese medicine), aiming to control the progression of cancer, improve patients’ quality of life and prolong their survival time. The combination of treatments has brought actual benefits to patients and some patients have received quite formidable curative effect. WHO claimed that cancer is a type of chronic disease, the meaning of which is to live with cancer. The treatment strategy advocated by Prof. Xu is a useful innovation to practice the concept of living with cancer.
Some people said that there are four realms for person, natural realm, material realm, moral realm and cosmic realm. During each of our meetings, he could always put forward some prospective questions from the perspective of moral realm and cosmic realm, about which we have a lot in common. I also realized that the reason why Prof. Xu has treated so many patients is not only by virtue of excellent skill but also humanitarian factors. As a saying goes, doctor should have a parental heart. To love others and love patients are always the basis for a doctor to practice medicine.
I have read the popular science books Nothing But The Truth and Follow Me to Fight Against Cancer written by Prof. Xu and I’m greatly touched and enlightened after reading the books. I also find the book Living With Cancer, very interesting. I believe that the publication of the book will not only bring benefits to patients but also bring inspirations to professionals in cancer diagnosis and treatments. I would like to congratulate him on the publication of the book and warmly recommend this book to the general public readers.
Wang Zhenyi academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering
Academician Tang Zhaoyou wrote a preface for Living With Cancer
Academician Tang Zhaoyou (R) and Prof. Xu Kecheng
As a long-time friend of Prof. Xu Kecheng, I readily agreed to write a preface for his new book Living With Cancer at his invitation. It’s not because I’m fully qualified to write the preface but because we hold similar views on certain concepts. Therefore, I would like to call for people to make a reflection on the strategy of anti-cancer battle by writing a preface for the book. I have read some of the articles and find the book quite interesting and full of philosophical implications. I personally believed that it is not only a popular science book but also a refined book to upgrade the strategy for anti-cancer battle.
In 2011, I compiled To Employ Both Elimination and Transformation—A New Perspective for Cancer from an Academician and the second edition went to publication in 2015. The preface of the book started like this, “Over the past century of anti-cancer battle, we hold cancer elimination as the main objective and have made a considerable headway in this regard. However, we still have a long way to go to conquer cancer. Though early detection and early treatment have greatly improved the curative effect, it’s very difficult to make further improvement. It seems that elimination alone is not enough and transformation should also be considered to enable patient to live with cancer. The transformation also involves the improvement of patients’ immunity to fight against cancer.”
After reading several articles of the book, I learned that the reason behind the successful treatments is a combined use of ablation methods and other comprehensive treatments, which has both eliminated the tumor and improved patient’s immunity to fight against cancer.
Last year, I delivered a speech titled “To develop medicine with Chinese characteristics” at the annual meeting of oncology of Chinese Medical Association. I believe that to develop medicine with Chinese characteristic is the history mission brought by Chinese rise. To fulfill the objective, Chinese elements are needed. Chinese elements should accord with China’s national conditions and Chinese thinking modes while Chinese thinking modes should make full use of traditional Chinese culture. In the book Living With Cancer, Prof. Xu quoted from The Inner Canon of Huangdi that “Moderate treatment should be applied to treat disease or else, the fundamentals might be injured.” The ancient wisdom also deserves our reflection on the current strategy of elimination in the anti-cancer battle.
Several months ago when I was making the rounds of wards, I put forward my own understanding of the definition of cancer, “Cancer is the internal turmoil caused by long-term internal-external unbalance. It is a systemic chronic disease mainly characterized by alternations of heredity character of local cells.” My view of internal turmoil coincides with that of Prof. Xu. Different from infectious disease that is caused by pathogen invasion, cancer is developed because human body is out of order and cancer cells are evolved from normal cells. The treatment for infectious disease is to eliminate invaders while cancer treatment focuses not only on eliminating the major insurgent but also on surrender the residual enemies.
The treatment strategies and therapeutic measures proposed by Prof. Xu are of great importance in practicing the concept of living with cancer. I wish the publication of the book a complete success!
Tang Zhaoyou academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering
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