The role of your cancer health professional is to create an environment of openness and trust, and to help in making informed decisions about alternative/ complementary therapies. Collaboration will improve the safe integration of all therapies during your experience with cancer. The "Summary" and "Professional Evaluation/ Critique" sections of this Unconventional Therapies manual are cited directly from the medical literature, and are intended to help in the objective evaluation of alternative/ complementary therapies.
Summary
"After study of the literature and other available information, the American Cancer Society has found no evidence that therapy offered by the Livingston-Wheeler Clinic results in objective benefit in the treatment of cancer in human beings. Lacking such evidence, the American Cancer Society strongly urges individuals with cancer not to seek treatment at the Livingston-Wheeler Clinic." (CA)
Description/ Source/ Components
The treatment protocol designed by Dr. Livingston included (in addition to a number of vaccines) largely vegetarian raw foods, gamma globulin, vitamin and mineral supplements, attention to dental problems, heat therapy, and detoxification. "More specifically, the Livingston therapy calls for eliminating from the diet all poultry and egg products, sugars, white flours, and processed foods. Tobacco and alcohol are also to be avoided. Spleen glandular extracts, the BCG vaccine (to stimulate the patient's immune system), and sometimes hydrochloric acid (to acidify the patient's blood and urine) are administered." (Diamond)
Treatments include "a vegetarian diet that avoids chicken, eggs, and sugar, vaccines, vitamin and mineral supplements, visualization, and stress reduction." (Hafner) (CA)
"The basis of the treatment is an autogenous vaccine made from each patient's individual strain of bacteria. The bacteria, which is usually obtained from a urine specimen (although blood or tumor tissue is also used), is grown in culture, killed, and processed to produce a vaccine." (CA)
"For many years prior to her death in 1990, she [Virginia Livingston-Wheeler] ran the Livingston-Wheeler clinic in San Diego (since then others have taken over the management of the clinic), treating patients twice a week with a vaccine made from each patient's urine." (Cassileth)
"Doses are typically given every 3-5 days, depending on a patient's reaction." (Diamond)
History
In the 1940s, Virginia Livingston, MD, discovered a bacterium, Progenitor cryptocides. In subsequent published reports, she claimed that this bacterium "is found in humans and animals and causes cancer only when the immune (defense) system is inadequate." (National Cancer Institute)
Livingston died in 1990. Her work is being continued by physicians at the Livingston-Wheeler Clinic in San Diego, California. (National Cancer Institute)
Proponent/ Advocate Claims
"Dr. Livingston's theory arose out of her experience with tuberculosis, leprosy, and scleroderma (a skin disease) among her patients. She began to see them as related to each other and to cancer as well. Already a researcher, she discovered certain organisms in scleroderma that were similar to those in tuberculosis and leprosy and set out to discover if they were also found in cancer... According to Dr. Livingston, P. cryptocides is present in everyone (and animals) from birth, but is held in check by the immune system. When immunity becomes suppressed by poor diet, chemical toxins, emotional distress, and other factors, the dormant microbe can multiply and promote the growth or tumors." (Diamond)
"She came to believe that cancer was caused by a microbe, a living, microscopic organism that lives in patients' blood and body tissues. Although mainstream scientists deny its existence, she claims to have seen this micro-organism through a special 'dark field' microscope." (Cassileth)
"Even more intriguing, Dr. Livingston discovered that P. cryptocides is actually a pleomorphic organism, capable of changing its shape and evolving through a series of forms." (Diamond)
"The concept was to use the bacteria in a person's body to fight that same bacteria; in this way, the vaccine was tailored precisely to match each individual." (Diamond)
"The injected vaccine was used to attack the bacterium that Livingston-Wheeler believed caused cancer." (Cassileth)
Livingston-Wheeler believed that "dietary deficiencies are responsible for weakening the body's defense against cancer." (National Cancer Institute)
"Livingston-Wheeler claimed a success rate of 82 percent (with success defined as either being free of cancer on medical follow-up or "doing well" if cancer was still present), based on 62 case histories out of an original 100 pulled randomly from the clinic's files." (CA)
Professional Evaluation/ Critique
"In a controlled study of end-stage cancer patients, patients on the Livingston-Wheeler regimen lived no longer than, and displayed an inferior quality of life to, similar patients treated conventionally." (Cassileth)
"There is no scientific evidence to confirm Livingston's theories of cancer causation or to justify the treatments." (National Cancer Institute)
"Careful research using modern techniques, however, has shown that there is no such organism and that Livingston-Wheeler has apparently mistaken several different types of bacteria, both rare and common, for a unique microbe. In spite of diligent research to isolate a cancer-causing micro-organism, none has been found. Similarly, Livingston's autologous vaccine cannot be considered an effective treatment for cancer... The rationale for other facets of the Livingston-Wheeler cancer therapy is similarly faulty. No evidence supports her contention that cancer results from a defective immune system, that a whole-foods diet restores immune system deficiencies, that abscisic acid slows tumor growth, or that cancer is transmitted to humans by chickens." (CA)
"Most of the patients whom Livingston claimed to have helped had also received standard therapy (i.e., surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy) before, during, or after treatment at the clinic." (National Cancer Institute)
"In February 1990, the State of California ordered the Livingston-Wheeler Clinic to stop treating cancer patients with the vaccines. Under California law, only drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the California Department of Health Services can be prescribed or used in cancer treatments. Dr. Livingston-Wheeler never sought FDA approval for her vaccine." (National Cancer Institute)
"Cultures supplied by Livingston-Wheeler were confirmed to produce HCG. Her claim that HCG is a unique product of Progenitor cryptocides, however has been disputed in several studies. Investigators have found that HCG is produced by a variety of bacteria from both cancer patients and normal human tissues." (CA)
"A detailed review of patient medical records revealed poor data collection of patient histories, physical examinations, and histology to confirm or deny the presence of cancer; lack of follow-up on abnormal results of laboratory tests; lack of follow-up on complications; and lack of informed consent." (CA)
"It is important to recognize that anecdotal reports of successful cancer treatment are not sufficient proof that a treatment is safe and effective." (National Cancer Institute)
Toxicity/ Risks
"The autogenous vaccines have never been shown to be toxic... however, reactions occur. Reactions are described as malaise, aching, slight fever, and tenderness at the injection site." (CA)
A patient's reaction may include soreness or redness at the site of injection, hypersensitivity, mild fever, and muscle or joint pains. (Diamond)
Costs
"Initial consultation for new patients is free. The estimated cost of the full treatment program is $5,500 for ten days. The estimated cost of the preventive program is $1,200. Living expenses are not included." (Fink, 1997)
"The total cost of the ten-day program is approximately $5,000. This is not a flat fee and cost will vary according to the patient's needs. This cost covers daily visits for the ten days, one month's supply of injectables, and supplements." (Land, 1990)
"Dr. Speckhart notes that the Livingston vaccines are expensive to produce and are not cost-effective for most practitioners." (Diamond, 1997)
References
CA (Anonymous). Unproven methods of cancer management: Livingston-Wheeler therapy. CA: a Cancer Journal for Clinicians 1990 Mar/Apr;40(2):103-108.
Cassileth BR. Alternative medicine handbook: a complete reference guide to alternative and complementary therapies. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998:164.
Diamond WJ, et al. An alternative medicine definitive guide to cancer. Tiburon: Future Medicine Publishing, Inc., 1997:893-896.
Fink JM. Third opinion: an international directory to alternative therapy centers for the treatment and prevention of cancer and other degenerative diseases. 3rd ed. Garden City Park, New York: Avery Publishing Group Inc., 1997:110.
Hafner AW, editor. Reader's guide to alternative health methods. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: American Medical Association, 1993:139-140.
Land G. Letter to Mr. Ricker 1990 May 10. (BCCA Cancer Information Centre search file 1093)
National Cancer Institute. Virginia Livingston-Wheeler. Cancer Facts 1990 Nov 30.
Revised February 2000