Surgeon with cancer tested radical new treatment on himself—successfully

Oct 21, 2009

Dr. Stephen Cantrell, a craniofacial and maxillofacial surgeon, developed malignant melanoma at the age of 33. He went through numerous surgical procedures, enrolled in a clinical trial for a cancer vaccine and tried interferon as well. The cancer continued to recur, and it became far more aggressive. With new tumors developing rapidly in his neck and chest, he was advised that he had about six weeks left to live and that he should go enjoy the time he had left.

But Dr. Cantrell didn’t give up. He went through multiple surgeries to remove each new metastasis as it appeared. The surgery wasn’t enough, though. So he looked through the medical literature for any untested or overlooked treatments. Finding nothing, he made a guess that paid off – he treated himself with an untested combination of lovastatin and interferon, taking copious notes on its effects.

Four weeks later, scans revealed that the cancer had gone without a trace. His radiologist thought that the metastases in his neck had been surgically removed, but they had simply disappeared with his drug regimen.

Nine years later, Dr. Cantrell remains cancer-free, taking low maintenance doses of the lovastatin and the interferon. Other cancer patients have come to him to undergo the same drug treatment regimen, and these patients have seen positive results in their battles with melanoma, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer and mesothelioma.

Dr. Cantrell left his surgical career to work full-time on developing the interferon/lovastatin treatment, opening NeoPlas Innovation in Nashville, Tennessee to treat selected cancer patients on an outpatient basis. He uses a careful screening process to assure that patients aren’t missing an established treatment that should be tried first.  Eventually, he would like to be able to run formal clinical trials, but his focus so far has been on treating individual patients without other good options.

For the full story, go to Reuters.

Latest News Stories