Nicholas Gonzalez (physician)
Nicholas James Gonzalez (December 28, 1947 – July 21, 2015) was a
In one non-randomized clinical trial of terminally ill patients with pancreatic cancer, the Gonzalez-treated patients were found to have died much earlier than those treated with conventional chemotherapy. A better quality of life was reported by the chemotherapy arm.[5]
Biography
Gonzalez was born December 28, 1947, in
Gonzalez completed postgraduate premedical work at
Gonzalez died of a suspected
Cancer treatment and its effectiveness
Gonzalez's treatment methods, which he's been using since 1987, are developed from previous work by the orthodontist
In 1999 Gonzalez published an article describing prolonged life in a small group of patients with pancreatic cancer in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrition and Cancer.[12] Subsequently, others concluded that the longer survival time reported by Gonzalez was due to selection bias and other confounds.[13][14]
Rejection by mainstream medicine
Like his mentor, William Donald Kelley, Gonzalez's treatment method has been "rejected" by the "medical establishment".
Gonzalez lost two
The American Cancer Society notes that there is "no convincing scientific evidence that [the Gonzalez treatment] is effective in treating cancer" and that some portions of the treatment may be harmful. A review article from the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology is cited that notes the clinical efficacy of coffee enemas has not been proven and the therapy is associated with adverse effects previously described in a few case reports. Gonzalez's study published in Nutrition and Cancer in 1999 was criticized by an expert in integrative oncology research methods for its small sample size, selection bias, and failure to account for confounding variables.[13][14]
Gonzalez "never explicitly rejected the more orthodox precepts of his profession", insisting that he wanted his research evaluated by independent scientists.[3]
Clinical trial
A randomized phase III
The trial found that patients treated with the Gonzalez regime survived on average for 4.3 months; those using standard chemotherapy survived on average for 14 months and reported a better quality of life.[5]
An accompanying editorial said it was troubling that expensive
This trial had been criticized for its implausible and unsupported theoretical model of cancer development which bears no resemblance to the scientific understanding of
See also
- List of ineffective cancer treatments
References
- ^ a b c d e "Maverick moves to mainstream". www.signonsandiego.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2002. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
- PBS.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Specter, M (2 May 2001). "The Outlaw Doctor; Cancer researchers used to call him a fraud. What's changed?". The New Yorker. p. 48.
- PMID 23251944.
- ^ a b "Gonzalez Regimen". National Cancer Institute. 24 May 2012.
- New York Times, 26 July 2015
- ^ a b "Nicholas James Gonzalez, M.D., curriculum vitae" (PDF). dr-gonzalez.com. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
- ^ PMID 17283743.
- ^ S2CID 133344385.
- ^ Lerner, M.D., Barron H. (14 January 2016). "Straddling Conventional and Alternative Cancer Treatment". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
- ^ a b c "Gonzalez Regimen". National Cancer Institute. 24 August 2005. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
- PMID 10368805.
- ^ S2CID 35124492.
- ^ a b "Metabolic Therapy". American Cancer Society. 3 August 2012. Archived from the original on 25 April 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
- ^ "Professional Misconduct and Professional Discipline: Nicholas Gonzalez, MD". 24 October 1994.
- ^ "Office of the Professions: Nicholas James Gonzalez License Information". New York State Education Department.
- ^ Charell v. Gonzalez, 660 N.Y.S. 2d 665 (Sup Ct., 1997).
- .
- ^ a b "A cure for quacks". New Scientist. 22 August 1998.
- ^ a b "Cancer doc hit for $2.5M plus". New York Daily News. 31 March 1997. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008.
- Village Voice. 26 March 2002.
- ^ Gonzalez v. Ellenberg, 2004 NY Slip Op 51518(U) (NY 10/12/2004), 2004 NY Slip Op 51518 (NY, 2004), retrieved January 1, 2009
- ^ "Doctor liable in death of patient". New York Daily News. 21 April 2002.[permanent dead link]
- ^ PMID 10986163.
- ^ "Gemcitabine Compared With Pancreatic Enzyme Therapy Plus Specialized Diet (Gonzalez Regimen) in Treating Patients Who Have Stage II, Stage III, or Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer". clinicaltrials.gov. 13 February 2013.
- ^ "Cancer's Enema No. 1? Make That 2", Wired, 30 October 2002
- PMID 19687327.
- PMID 20308650.
- ^ Atwood K (11 September 2009). "'Gonzalez Regimen' for Cancer of the Pancreas: Even Worse than We Thought (Part I: Results)". Science-Based Medicine.
- ^ Dreifus, C (3 April 2001). "A Conversation with Stephen Straus; Separating remedies from snake oil". The New York Times.
- S2CID 30481889.
Publications
- What Went Wrong: The Truth Behind the Clinical Trial of the Enzyme Treatment of Cancer (2012, New Spring Press; ISBN 978-0-9821965-3-3)
- One Man Alone: An Investigation of Nutrition, Cancer, and William Donald Kelley (2010, New Spring Press; ISBN 978-0-9821965-1-9)
- Gonzalez NJ, Isaacs LL. The Trophoblast and the Origins of Cancer: One solution to the medical enigma of our time. (2009, New Spring Press; ISBN 978-0-9821965-0-2)
- Fuhrman MP, Payne C, Eiden K, Steinle N, Gonzalez NJ. Nutrition and the Pancreas. In: Marian MJ, Williams PA, Bowers JM, eds. Integrating Therapeutic and Complementary Nutrition. (2007, CRC Press; ISBN 978-0-8493-1612-8)