DCA: Cancer Breakthrough or Urban Legend?OPINION by LEN LICHTENFELD, M.D.
Feb. 5, 2007
There is the medical equivalent of a tsunami wave building out there, only we don't know where this one is going to land.
It is called DCA, and we at the American Cancer Society are suddenly receiving requests for information about something few if any of us had heard about as a cancer treatment until this past week.
I suspect some of this rapid explosion is fueled in part by the Internet and the rapid exchange of information, and some by advocates who believe in the long-held conspiracy theory that someone is holding back the single simple answer to curing all cancer.
We even received an urgent plea from one media outlet Thursday asking us to help them out with understanding DCA, since its Web site was being inundated with Internet traffic that was overwhelming its servers.
Before we replace rational discourse with irrational exuberance, it is my personal opinion that a bit of caution is in order. The basic reason for my conservative view is "been there, done that."
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