Whenever a person has a serious medical problem, to help insure the best available and most appropriate treatment, one must have the most authoritative and current scientific information on the particular disease. And that is what we provide in our Medical Research Services. The information is constructed in a manner that can be understood and put to use by all involved - the patient, facilitators, and health professional.

In virtually any medical situation, the following are the main issues of concern.

1 - Has the disease been properly diagnosed, staged, and trended?

2 - What are the state-of-the-art medical treatments and therapeutic alternatives?

3 - How do the adverse effects of a particular treatment compromise the quality of living and life-expectancy?

4 - What experimental trials are currently open?

5 - What is the status of current research on the disease?

Our "Base Report" addresses all of the above issues in a 200 page concise but comprehensive document, representing the most current and authoritative information on any disease. Each report is constructed for the particular case and is appropriate whether the disease is newly diagnosed, in treatment, in remissions, or recurrent.

We provide the Report in electronic format and in a bound, printed version. The fee for the electronic medium, via the Internet, is $155. For the printed copy plus the electronic version, the fee is $285 (that includes the Priority mailing). With either mode, a one year subscription to the companion web-site is included, which has the monthly revised reports and other features that are relevant to Breast cancer. The service fee is tax-deductible; and usually the report can be compiled and delivered within one week.

Each report is created either by or under the supervision of Chadd Everone, Ph.D. Having done literally several thousand such reports for all kinds of clients and medical conditions for over 20 years and having authored the DoctorInternet Program, he is one of the leading authorities in doing such medical research.

If you desire to discuss the details of a case, please complete the form below to arrange a phone call and discuss the particulars.

The information below provides a more detailed explanation of this service in the context of what we call the "life-extension approach" to medicine.

 

Medical Research Services is a component of our "life-extension approach" to medicine.

As discussed elsewhere, our main effort involves what we call the Life-Extension & Control of Ageing Program. This program is a comprehensive approach to long-range health and disease prevention, one which also involves a research strategy in the control of biological ageing. (The reasons for the control of ageing is simple - without that, only marginal gains can ever be made in terms of disease prevention, disease cure, and life-extension; and that is discussed in other sectors of the site.) We are not involved directly in the practice of medicine; however, if one of our participants does get a significant medical problem, then we go into the main bio-medical databases, retrieve information on the state-of-the-art treatment and current research, and organize it into a report so that patients, facilitators, and health professionals can use it in planning the treatment strategy for the particular individual. This is what we call Medical Research Services, and we provide that here, as a separate service. We have done thousands of these reports on all types of medical problems at all stages. The information is always well received and enhances the qualify of care - sometimes dramatically. (For an example of one case, see the Bernie letter.)

A medical research report is an integral component of what we call the "life-extension approach to medicine"; and it may be of interest to explain that approach here.

"Medicine" is about the treatment of disease; and that is different than "health", which is the maintenance of biological vitality. The two ideas, "medicine" and "health" have become confused in modern language by the medical profession expropriating the idea of health - e.g., "health maintenance organizations" (which really are hospitals and medical practices) and a "national health policy" (which really is plan for medical insurance coverage). Obviously, there is some convergence between the two disciplines; but it is important to keep a clear distinction. Health is a condition of optimal biological vitality. When biological vitality becomes significantly impaired, then it becomes a medical problem and subject to specific treatment in an effort to cure or, at least, manage the pathology so that malfunction is avoided. There are various therapeutic disciplines in medicine.

"Allopathic" medicine means the treatment of disease with techniques that are "other" (allos) than the disease (pathos) itself. This commonly includes: surgery, chemo- or drug therapy, and radiation. All of these are commonly understood to be in the realm of conventional medical therapies; but, although, their application consumes most of the medical budget, their contribution to increased life-expectancy and quality of life is, actually, not that great, as will be explained below.

"Homeopathic" medicine means the treatment of disease with techniques that are the "same" (homeo) as the disease (pathos) itself. The term "homeopathy" is most commonly associated with nostrums that are sold for their placebo effect; but, as demonstrated by immunization, it can be a legitimate medicine approach. Immunization is the procedure of exposing a person to small, innocuous quantities of the disease organism so that immunity is evoked and, thus, disease prevented. That is a type of homeopathy; and it is still the single most effective treatment in terms of preventing disease, preserving health, and extending the length and quality of life. It is very inexpensive and usually conducted by public health officials.

"Naturopathic" medicine uses methods of diet, massage, relaxation, physical therapy, and other natural activities in the treatment of disease. This encompasses a wide-range of techniques and can be used for many medical conditions; and in some ways, it is the interstitial fabric of all medicine because most healing involves natural recovery. In this vein, other schools might be included, such as: ayurvedic,

There are numerous, other systems of therapy including, but not limited to: Osteopathic Medicine, Ayurvedic Medicine, Complementary, Palliative, etc.

"Rational" therapy is the most recent phase in the evolution of medicine. As the science of basic biology progresses, the actual molecular mechanisms of disease is becoming understood, which allows for the design of therapies which intervene directly.

Finally, a distinction can be made between "conventional" medicine and "alternative" medicine. Essentially, "conventional" means whatever is commonly practiced within a community and reimbursed by an insurance carrier; and "alternative" means anything other than conventional. Usually, allopathic medicine is considered conventional and homeopathic, naturopathic, folk, and other forms of medicine are considered alternative.

In the U.S., annually, over $1.2 trillion is spent on conventional medicine and about $100 billion is spent on alternatives, which amount to almost 18% of the gross domestic product. The fact of the matter is, however, that neither conventional nor alternative modalities, aggregately or independently, do much in terms of increasing the length or quality of the life-span. This assertion that medicine does little for life-extension will seem preposterous to all except health statisticians who actually look at the demographics; but one startling fact will easily communicate the point. Consider that one-hundred years ago (1990), if you had lived to age 65, then your life-expectancy would have been 11 years. In 1900, although there were doctors, they had no effective treatments for any disease. In other words, in 1900, without any effective medicine at all, you would have had, on the average, 11 years of additional life-expectancy. Surprisingly, it was not until about 1950, with the introduction of antibiotics, that clinical medicine began to have an impact on the average life-expectancy of the general population. Now, in comparison, in 2001, if you are age 65, then your life-expectancy is 15 years - only 4 additional years more than in 1900. And of that 4, only 1 can be attributed to clinical medicine with the other 3 coming from public health, hygiene, and standard of living. With all of these highly paid and well educated professionals and with such massively elaborate technology and at a cost of over $800 billion per year, which would be the portion that is spent on individuals over 65, then, for 1 statistical year of additional life-expectancy, one could say that all of those resources go for essentially no benefit. The notion that the quality if living is increase by medicine, even though the length may not be, is nonsense. Also, the rebuttal that medicine does some good in individual cases, although true, is countered by that fact that it is equally true that medical treatments, particularly in the older population, cause a great deal of damage and premature death. Suffice it to say that the existing medical paradigms, be they conventional or alternative, allopathic, homeopathic, naturopathic, folk, spiritualistic, etc. are inadequate; and a new approach needs to be invented. We propose that life-extension science offers such a new approach.

In life-extension science, we are interested generally in those practices which have been scientifically demonstrated to help maintenance and to improve and extend the healthy life-span - what has come to be called the "health-span". And the "life-extension approach" to medicine is an extension of that basic concept. Life-extension is not involved in geriatric care nor simply extending survival at any cost, regardless of quality, suffering, expense, and dignity, as frequently happens in conventional as well as alternative medicine. Indeed, if what is currently available from conventional medicine offers no reasonable prospect of making a significant contribution to extending one's health-span, then the attitude in life-extension science would be to not undergo convention therapy, contribute to scientific progress by participating in a meaningful research project, and be prepared to accept a dignified death. That, of course, is each individual's personal choice.

Briefly, if you were to take a life-extension approach to treating a particular disease, then here are the main steps which you would follow.

Diagnosis. First, a proper diagnosis of the etiology or cause of the disease needs to be made. This includes staging, cell classifications (if applicable), trend, and rate of progression. "Second opinions" or multiple diagnostic evaluations are usually warranted for confirmation. Improper diagnosis does occur and, in the U.S., annually, wrong treatment (much of it based on wrong diagnosis) accounts for almost 100,000 deaths and an untold amount damage - making medicine more dangerous than driving one's car, which accounts for about 45,000 deaths per year.

Observational Therapy. Most medical situations are not emergencies. When a disease is first discovered, there can be panic reactions in everyone, including physicians. However, almost always, the disease has been there for some time and frequently is not progressing rapidly or at all. Sometimes, at the time of diagnosis, the disease is actually in recovery by the body's natural restoration mechanisms. If allopathic therapy is initiated prematurely, the disease can be accelerated. Thus, it is frequently best to employ first what is called "observational medicine" or "watchful waiting". This simply means tracking closely its progression and using aggressive treatments when it is certain that the condition is deteriorating.

Health Practices Regimen. Obviously, building a healthy life-style is advisable at any time; but frequently, a person does not become sensitized to the need until after a medical problem occurs. Optimizing one's physical condition with diet, exercise, detoxification, and psychological training is important in support of medical therapy; and during the observational phase, above, employing a health regimen might demonstrate that the disease process can be mitigated by natural means. One important and frequently unrecognized component, during the initial phase of dealing with a medical problem, is psychological counseling (including religious, if suitable). The process of stepping back and reflecting will help clarify one's goals, relieve anxiety, and facilitate the transition through the usual sequence of denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance. Psychological counseling can help prevent the frantic search for cures that make the patient and family vulnerable to victimization by some medical professionals.

Evidence-based Medicine. In the selection of the most appropriate medical treatment, we emphasize what is called "evidence-based medicine'. This simply means that it makes sense to employ those modalities for which there is scientific evidence that they cause benefit. As you can see from the quotation below, most conventional therapies (even though paid for by insurance and done by the established medical community) are not validated by scientific evidence, even though they are highly technical and employ elaborate scientific jargon. And there is even less confirmation for alternative therapies. Discerning scientifically valid treatments is one of the main objectives of our Base Report.

"Of the thousands of medical therapies available today, few have been evaluated in a way that clearly identifies whether the intervention is beneficial or harmful to the patient". (Evidence-Based Family Medicine; by Walter W Rosser, M.D. and M. Sharon Shafir, M.D. (Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada); page 45; B.C. Decker, Inc. 1998.)

Experimental Trials and Research. Given that a patient has been properly diagnosed and staged and is receiving state-of-the-art medical treatment (which may be just observational therapy, as above) and given that one institutes a life-style that builds health and physical condition, then one needs also to evaluate the Experimental Trials which are currently available and to stay in touch with on-going progress in research. Medicine is evolving rapidly, small improvements in therapy are happening all the time and can have big effects in lowering adverse effects and extending survival, and with biological science moving toward an understanding of regeneration at a fundamental level, a radically new medical paradigm and technology is emerging. Although there may not be a cure in practice today, it may have already been invented at some research clinic or lab.

The Base Report. In confirming the diagnosis and in planning therapy as well as reviewing research options, the first things which we do, as a matter of routine, is to go into the research databases and retrieve the current information on the particular problem. We then organize the information into a report that can be used by the various people who are involved. In this way, one can review the "state-of-the-art" treatment procedures and the experimental research that is being conducted throughout the world and, thus, be in a better position to plan or revise the treatment strategy. Specifically, in the case of cancer, we use two sources of information: a specialized database called "Physician Data Query" for state-of-the-art diagnostic, treatment, and experimental protocols and the "MEDLINE" database for research reports. Between these two databases, the patient together with the treating physician(s), relatives, the psychologist, religious counselor, etc. have the most authoritative and the most current, scientific information that is available on the particular medical problem. Subsequent to the Base Report, further research can be done in specific areas that are directly pertinent to the case, and we can help implement a treatment strategy. The aim, of course, is to gather the relevant information and use it in helping to derive the best possible, most appropriate therapeutic strategy for the particular person.