Intrathecal Chemotherapy

On Thursday at The State Institute of Cancer took place the application of intrathecal chemotherapy in 3 girls of 2, 4 and 17 years old. They suffer from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Intrathecal chemotherapy is used to treat cancers that have reached the central nervous system, such as leukemia and lymphoma. This treatment must be used because chemotherapy drugs don't pass through the blood-brain barrier and some cancer cells spread through the area.

There are 2 ways to make intrathecal chemotherapy. One way is to inject the drugs into the Ommaya reservoir (for which a device is implanted by surgery). The other way is to inject the drugs into the bottom of the spine.

In girls, anesthesiologist first had to administer general anesthesia and then the oncology pediatrician did antisepsis of the area where she will puncture, after that she inserted a long needle into the lumbar area of the child and waited to begin a clear liquid out of the needle. She took a small sample of the fluid and finally in the same needle injected a drug.

Homework

Probiotic yoghurt vs. Common yoghurt

These days I read some articles that talk about the benefits of yoghurt. The probiotic yoghurt is any yoghurt with live active bacteria (they're of various types like Lactobacillus or Bifidobacterium, which are considered beneficial to the body), which means that the more natural yoghurt is a probiotic food. All yoghurts contain a certain amount of bacteria, yoghurts sold as "probiotic yogurt" contain higher amounts of beneficial bacteria (It's because some companies select some bacteria that are more likely to survive digestion).

These bacteria have been shown to reduce the effects of some gastrointestinal problems, prevent colon cancer and can reduce lactose intolerance. In addition,  it's a natural immune system booster, so it's very common drink them to improve overall health and prevent certain diseases.

However, the yoghurt in some people can cause side effects such as gas, bloating and over-stimulation of the immune system.

The medical and scientific community mentions that products labeled as probiotic yogurt aren't necessarily better. So, you can select the yoghurt that you have on hand, but taking care that it doesn't have high levels of sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup or sugar.

Milk consumption and cancer

During this week I searched articles related to milk consumption in patients with cancer. I think that "milk" is a very controversial topic because there are articles that mention that milk is a food that prevents cancer and a rich source of energy, protein, calcium and vitamin D, which are essential nutrients for patients who already have cancer, other articles say that milk shouldn't be consumed because it generates metastasis, increases symptoms and can cause disease recurrence.

The main problem is that we now live in a highly industrialized world where cows are injected with hormones to increase milk production. Companies are using recombinant growth hormones in cows. This hormone can increase milk production by 20%. According to WHO, the injection of this hormone increases the concentration of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1) in milk.

IGF-1 causes the cells divide and reproduce, but doesn't distinguish cancer cells from healthy cells. 

According to information, I would recommend consumption of organic milk to get all the nutrients that milk provides, but this type of milk isn't processed hygienically and the body of the patient with cancer is susceptible to disease, so it's better to wait during the treatment (surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy) of the disease without milk and choose coconut, soy, almond or rice milk and long after you can consume organic milk.

Several options to replace cow's milk.

Workshop: "El plato del bien comer"

This month my colleagues and I are organizing a workshop for hospitalized children and their parents to learn should be your dish as breakfast, lunch and dinner, in addition they can classify foods and so they see which are the healthiest options for them.

We got some food replicas that are sold in the supermarket for children and collect the boxes of some products such as biscuits, jelly, cereal and milk to make the dish didactically and so patients and their parents understand better.

In addition to the plate, we will make other material in which patients can classify fats and sugars and they realize that certain products aren't suitable to consume them.

The workshop starts this week, we hope to be successful and that people take something home to put it into practice.