THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE Volume 4, Number 2, 1998, pp. 137-145 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. OBITUARIES Cancer Treatment Pioneers The lives of two great physicians and pioneers of alternative cancer treatments were celebrated in New York City at the end of March. On March 28, the Foundation for the Advancement of Innovative Medicine (FAIM) presented its Pioneer Award posthumously to Josef Issels, MD, for a half century of work on diet and immunotherapy. The following evening, March 29, The Re- vici Foundation for Lipid Biomedical Research held a public memorial service at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, Xew York City, to commemorate the life and work of Emanuel Revici, MD, originator of a lipid-based nontoxic cancer chemotherapy. It was fitting that a further FAIM Pioneer Award was presented to Stanislaw Burzynski, MD, for his unrelenting efforts to make antineoplaston therapy available to cancer patients. An obituary and appraisal of Drs. Issels and Revici replace the customary Photoessay for this issue of the journal. An Appraisal of the Life and Work of Dr. Josef Maria Issels 1907-1997 Dr. Josef Maria Issels r. Josef Maria Issels, 90, was widely re- prove patient care led him to integrate stan- Dgarded as the "Father of Integrative Med- dard, traditional, experimental and alternative icine." Xearly 50 years ago, his efforts to im- treatments in a full-service German cancer hos- 137 ' OBITUARIES pital. His unexpected death on February 11, with alternative, complementary, experimen- 1998, was due to influenza-caused pneumonia, tal, and traditional forms of treatment, includ- Dr. Issels was born November 21, 1907, in ing behavioral (mind/body) medicine. Com- Munchen-GIadbach, Germany. In 1932, at the bined management with surgery, radio- age of 24, he received his medical doctorate therapy, chemotherapy, naturopathic medi- from the University of Wiirzburg in Germany, cine, homeopathy, nutritional immunology. He first achieved international recognition at Coley's toxins, tumor vaccines, biological den- the age of 28 when, as a ship's physician, he tistry, and neural therapy marked his practice defied orders from the vessel's owners and per- as thoroughly unique in the world, formed emergency surgery on a British woman In 1959, independent epidemiologist A.G. who suddenly presented with acute abdomen Audier concluded and published in the re- pain. Under unimaginably difficult circum- spected journal. Die Medizinische, the remark- stances, in the poorly equipped and long-un- able observation that Issels had cured nearly used operating room of an ocean liner tossed 17% of the exhaustively pretreated, refractory on the waves of a stormy sea, the young physi- cancer patients admitted to his practice. Au- cian operated with scalpels "as dull as a butter dier's exclusion criteria were extraordinarily knife." The surgery was a success, and the press rigorous, only allowing review of those pa- seized the story, which ran counter to the ris- tients with histologically verified, recurrent ing tide of international tension and conflict, disease who simply could not be given any The headlines read, "German Doctor Saves more standard treatments. Due to the relatively British Woman's Life!" large sample studied, Audier's comparison Dr. Issels' defiance of authority was never with world data was statistically significant, simple rebellion for its own sake. Despite in- Ironically, in 1960, on the heels of the Audier credible danger to himself and his family, when publication. Dr. Issels was arrested on charges Nazi officials insisted that he stop treating his of fraud and manslaughter. The "cancer trial of Jewish patients, he petitioned to resign from the century" spanned 4 years and reached Ger- the Nazi Party. The petition was granted, but many's highest court, where, in 1964, Dr. Issels he was immediately drafted as an Army medic was acquitted of all charges. In the course of and sent to the Russian Front. He was captured the trial, it came out that members of the Ger- and interred until the end of 1945 under cruel man medical establishment had sent confeder- circumstances. Each day, as his fellow prison- ates to apply for jobs in Issels' medical practice. ers died of starvation and disease, he forced A worker whom Dr. Issels initially admired be- himself to stand and walk, subsisting on mea- cause he stayed until midnight every evening ger prison rations and consuming snow to aug- meticulously cataloging and reviewing charts, ment fluid and mineral intake. This experience, turned out to be a plant combing the cases for more than any other, gave him a deep under- possible fodder for the impending lawsuit, standing and spiritual bond with the thousands Some of the top names in the German medical of exhaustively pretreated cancer patients who community were involved in the conspiracy, would later seek his help. "Don't talk to me which ultimately backfired, about survival," he would tell them, "I know In 1965, the Demographic Institute of Al- about survival." lensbach polled Germans to test recognition of Dr. Issels is regarded as the Father of Inte- people in the news. Not even the current Chan- grative Medicine because as a classically cellor of the Federal Republic of Germany was trained German physician and surgeon, he known to as many common people as Dr. Is- boldly incorporated alternative and comple- sels, who had become a national hero. His in- mentary therapies decades before their current sight and leadership continue to be of interest popularity. In 1951, he opened the Ringberg- to scholars and practitioners alike. Recent pub- Klinik in Rottach-Egern, Germany, the first lications, including Michael Lerner's Choices in full-service hospital in Europe to offer treat- Healing from MIT Press, and David Hess' NYU ment to cancer patients who had been rejected Press publication. Can Bacteria Cause Cancer? by other doctors. His comprehensive manage- Alternative Medicine Meets Big Science, continue ment consisted of standard care integrated to highlight his many contributions. OBITUARIES 139 In 1970, the British Broadcasting Corpora- For more than 40 years, Issels labored on be- tion's (BBC) scientific investigators concluded half of his patients. To his everlasting credit, he a 6-month critical review of Issels' methods and rose from adversity to become a coveted outcomes. With unprecedented enthusiasm, the speaker for international medical conferences, BBC reported that a new independent epidemi- at universities including Oxford and McGill, ological chart review had replicated the earlier and prestigious institutions such as Memorial findings of Audier—in fact, with a larger sam- Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. ple size and equally rigorous exclusion criteria, In 1981, capping his meteoric rise, Issels re- the new review demonstrated a statistically sig- ceived an invitation to join the German Federal nificant cure rate approaching 19%, even higher Cancer Commission, a post he held for nearly than the 1959 report. The documentary was en- 7 years until his retirement from the Ringberg titled "Go and Climb a Mountain," a reference Klinik. Professor Anderson summarized his re- to Dr. Issels' undisguised psychotherapeutic lationship with Issels: techniques: he would revive depleted cancer pa- tients so thoroughly that they were able to hike I have known Dr. Issels for 12 years and up the small peak near his hospital. Once they been involved in an assessment of him had done so, he would suggest, "Now that you both as a person and as a clinician. His have climbed the mountain, don't you think you reputation is international as well as na- can conquer the cancer?" His acceptance at ail tional and he is known for this clinical levels was such that the BBC film depicted Ger- work and research, not only in Europe, man Army helicopters delivering terminally ill but in North and South America. His new cancer patients for treatment, and related that ideas have aroused challenge and change their care would be fully covered by both gov- and there is no doubt his approaches have ernment and private insurance. forced others to reconsider theirs. He has The lead researcher contracted by the BBC had an impact internationally in the can- was Professor John Anderson, M.D., Chairman cer field. He has as I know treated over of the Department of Medicine, King's College 10,000 patients with proven cancer. His Hospital Medical School, University of Lon- long term remission rate is still signifi- don. A champion and defender of Issels, An- cantly greater than that of other physi- derson wrote. cians working in this field, and better than the standard cancer registry data. He has contributed to our understanding of the whole-person approach to cancer After relocating to the United States, Dr. Is- therapy and the problems involved in con- sels lectured and traveled extensively, main- trolling a serious whole-body disease. His taining a schedule that would have been diffi- patients have come from many countries cult for a considerably younger man. He and and his extensive records have enabled his wife. Use Marie, created the Issels Founda- him to produce data about his complete tion to advance and promote his approach to and long term remissions in seriously ill cancer management through education and cancer patients who had been rejected by medical research. His final project, embarked other doctors. on with his move to Rancho Santa Fe, Califor- nia in 1996, was the merger of his own inte- In 1972, Dr. Issels published details of his grated set of medical managements with the comprehensive immunotherapy and the guid- well-known dietotherapy developed by former ing principles behind it in More Cures for Can- University of Munich tuberculosis division cer, from Heifer Verlag. In 1975, Hodder and chief. Dr. Max Gerson. To accomplish this, at Stoughton, publisher of The Lancet, introduced the age of 88, Issels became a coprincipal in- Issels' Cancer: A Second Opinion.