FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Why hasn’t my doctor suggested SPDT? 

There are several reasons:

1. Your doctor should have heard of photodynamic therapy (PDT).  It has been used therapeutically for about 100 years; a scholar.google.com search will yield approx 130,000 responses, and it is widely used to treat skin cancers.  He or she is less likely to have heard of Sono Photodynamic Therapy. The necessary technology (needing a highly selective, rapidly clearing sensitizer and a whole body light delivery system) is about 9 years old.  A scholar.google.com search will yield approx 750 responses.

2. The medical industry is notoriously slow to take up new technology.  A good example is the discovery by the Australian winners of the 2005 Nobel Prize for medicine.  In 1982 they did  simple, unambiguous, easily understood experiments to prove that bacteria caused stomach ulcers.  It took about 12 years for this discovery to become generally available to the public, so the public could be treated with antibiotics instead of stomach surgery.  The net result of this slow uptake is that improved therapies developed in, say, the last 15 years are not available, or if they are available, they are not covered by insurance.  Needless to say, 15 years is a long time, yet the latest therapies may often be better than the currently used therapies.

3. In cancer therapy, there is a massive focus on surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapies. There are other therapy options, but these are generally not on the radar screen.

Who is interested in getting SPDT/SDT?

People who choose SPDT mainly fall into these groups:

a. Those who have studied all the therapy options they can find, and cannot find a conventional treatment with reasonable prospects of solving their problem with acceptable side effects. Our patients are often very knowledgeable.

 b. Those who have tried conventional therapies, and they have failed.

c. Those who do not accept the side effects associated with other therapies.

What does SPDT do?

These therapies have been developed to kill cancer.

When is it best to get these therapies?

The earlier the better.  To maximize the probability of success, it is best to do SPDT shortly after diagnosis and/or surgery (if applicable), no matter whether the surgery was “successful” or not.

What about follow up after getting SPDT?

No one can guarantee that any treatment has “cured” cancer, therefore patients need regular monitoring.  Patients may choose to get occasional additional rounds of SPDT therapy, no matter what monitoring shows. There is no downside to additional therapy. Ongoing modified lifestyle is highly beneficial for all who have faced the cancer challenge. Our doctor will consult with you about lifestyle changes & other avenues, in an effort to ensure your ongoing good health & well-being.

Is SPDT mainstream or alternative therapy?

“Mainstream” and “alternative” are vague terms. If mainstream means “widely used”, then SPDT is a mainstream therapy in other countries, but not in the USA .  SPDT is important enough to have its own research journal *“Photodiagnosis and photodynamic therapy”.  If mainstream means a therapy that directly attacks cancer cells, then SPDT is mainstream. (Alternative or complementary therapies seek to improve general health, thereby building up the body’s ability to resist the cancer. They do not directly attack cancer). *
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15721000

How will I feel during therapy?

Though each patients experience may vary, patients can expect to feel improved vitality, improved appetite, possible weight gain, easier breathing and less pain. Patients sometimes report benefits that are not likely to be related to reduction in the tumor load.  We have had reports of increased energy in patients with little cancer, reduced arthritis pain, disappearance of hives and skin blemishes, better eyesight, and better sexual function for patients with prostate cancer.