Medicor Cancer Centre’s Observational DCA Treatment Data

This data is not from a clinical trial. It is based on a review of patients we have treated so far with DCA. Since our primary purpose is patient care and not data collection, this data may not meet the rigorous criteria employed in clinical trials. It may not be generalizable and should be interpreted with caution. We are sharing this data to help further patient care and knowledge.

Patient Demographics

At Medicor Cancer Centres, we have so far treated 118 cancer patients with DCA. Most of these patients have exhausted all conventional cancer treatments. The proportion of males and females treated was 55% males to 45% females.

Patients have ranged in age from 2 years to 90 years. The majority of our patients (57%) fall in the age group of 50-69 years.

Age Distribution of Patients Treated with DCA

The site of the primary cancer in these patients is presented in the following table:

Site of Primary Cancer in Patients Treated with DCA

Patient Responses

We have treated patients with a dose of DCA between 15mg/kg/day and 75mg/kg/day. On average, most patients receive a dose of approximately 25mg/kg/day. We are presently treating patients with a cyclic regimen of 1-3 weeks on followed by 1 week off. This regimen is adjusted to suit each individual patient by our physicians.

All of our patients understand that there is no guarantee that DCA will work for their cancer or what the long term effects of DCA may be.

Patient responses presented here are based on evaluation after a minimum of 4 weeks from start of treatment.

Based on this criterion, out of the total of 118 patients treated, we have been able to evaluate 53 patients (45%) as of Dec 5, 2007. The other 65 patients were not evaluated for the following reasons:

• 32 patients (49%) have recently started DCA treatment (< 4 weeks) – their data will be available soon
• 24 patients (37%) died within 4 weeks of starting DCA due to unrelated reasons (we do not deny patients access to safe treatment based on the stage of illness, and some of our patients are very advanced stage).
• 9 patients (14%) stopped DCA after < 4 weeks for various reasons (for example, due to side effects, admission to hospital etc.) The most serious side effect attributable to DCA in these 9 patients was confusion (2 patients - 22%).

 

Patient Evaluation Status 4 Weeks after start of DCA Treatment

The following data is based on the 53 patients that were evaluated after at least 4 weeks from start of DCA treatment.

• 36 patients (68%) showed a positive response to DCA. We have divided the positive responses into the following five categories based on the degree of clinical benefit. The categories below are not mutually exclusive since patients may have had a combination of positive responses while on DCA. For example a patient who had a reduction in tumour size and symptomatic improvement is counted in both category 1 and 4. For this reason, the numbers below do not add up to 36.
  
  
  • Category 1: Reduction in tumour size. Seen in 7 patients (13%). These patients had measurable tumour reduction which was demonstrated by imaging studies and/or direct tumour measurement.
  • Category 2: Reduction in tumour markers. Seen in 4 patients (7.5%). These patients had a reduction in markers for colon cancer (CEA), ovarian cancer (CA-125) or prostate cancer (PSA).
  • Category 3: Improvement in blood tests. Seen in 6 patients (11%). These included improvements in hemoglobin, liver enzymes, albumin, and other tests indicating reduced tissue damage
  • Category 4: Symptomatic improvement. Reported in 16 patients (30%). This included significant pain reduction, relief of bowel obstruction, weight gain, improved appetite and improved energy level. These improvements were sustained for a period of more than 4 weeks, thus making it unlikely to be placebo effect.
  • Category 5: Disease stabilization. Seen in 25 patients (47%). In these patients, there was no evidence of cancer progression while taking DCA.
    
    
• In 6 patients (11%), there was no way to determine if the cancer responded or progressed. These patients had no readily measurable tumour, no relevant tumour markers, and blood tests with no major abnormalities.
• In 11 patients (21%), there was no response to DCA treatment. In these patients, the cancer progressed despite DCA treatment, including increased doses.

 

Patient Responses to DCA Treatment

 

Type of Positive Response to DCA Treatment

 

Response rates in specific cancer types are quite similar to the overall response rates. For example, the positive response rates for lung cancer, and colon cancer were 67% and 57% respectively.

We have also observed positive responses in brain, ovary, prostate and breast cancers, however the numbers are too small to report at this time. For these and other cancer types, the cancer-specific response rates are not meaningful because of the small number of patients treated so far.

Side Effects

In our experience, DCA is a relatively safe cancer treatment. We have found that use of supplements appears to be effective in controlling many side effects. We still don’t know enough about the long-term effect of DCA in cancer treatment.

Out of the 53 patients who were evaluable for response, the frequency of reported side effects is as follows:

 

Comments

It is our opinion that DCA is a useful and relatively safe medical treatment for cancer patients who have exhausted scientifically proven treatment options. However, just like chemotherapy, the response to DCA depends on the individual patient. Based on clinical judgment, it is difficult to predict which patients are more likely to respond to DCA. Chemosensitivity tests like ChemoFit™ may help predict response to DCA.

We are not yet able to determine duration of response to DCA treatment. In our opinion, long term treatment with DCA may be limited by neuropathy. We will present more data on this once available.

For questions or comments regarding this page please email hkhan@medicorcancer.com