Psychosomatic Consideration on Cancer Patients Who Have Made A Narrow Escape from Death

Abstract

Clinical histories of five cases of spontaneous regression of cancer (SRC) have been analyzed from the psychosomatic point of view. As a result, some common features have been observed in their psychophysiological conditions. In all five cases, the absence of anxious and depressive reactions and the dramatic change of an outlook on life seemed to have led to the full activation of their innate self-recuperative potentials and to have helped them to make a narrow escape from death. Such an extraordinary psychological achievement was supported and encouraged by their religious faith or favorable change of human environment. Furthermore, the authors feel that the background of Oriental thought also might help them reach such a blessed state of mind. As one of somatic conditions which might contribute to SRC in them, the unchanged or rather elevated immunological capacity which was usually lowered in cancer patients has been confirmed in three of them. The following criteria were used by the authors to determine a diagnosis of spontaneous regression of cancer: 1. The reduction or disappearance of a pathohistologically confirmed tumor in the absence of any active anti-cancer therapy; 2. The long survival of the host body due to extremely delayed progress or prolonged arrest of cancer with no rapid growth or metastases of a malignant tumor; 3. The long survival of the host body with no cachectic change of cancer in the presence of some anti-cancer therapy, or the death of the host body after long survival due to some cause other than cancer. The authors note that SRC is not equated with spontaneous cure.

Case Details

Personal Characteristics

Y. H., a male church worker, died in november 1964, at the age of seventy-five. The patient was 64 years old when he noted sudden nasal bleeding and nasal obstruction while at work in march 1950. He was a taciturn and self-punitive person by nature.

Clinical Characteristics

The patient was 64 years old when he noted sudden nasal bleeding and nasal obstruction while at work in march 1950. He complained of hoarseness in january 1951 when he thought he had caught a cold. At first he was treated under the diagnosis of chronic laryngitis, but the hoarseness was aggravated. Because of increased dry feeling in the laryngeal region as well as of hoarseness, the patient was examined again at the university hospital (age 66). A new growth of a tumor was discovered in the left side of the vocal cord.

Remission Characteristics

He lived for the next thirteen years without receiving any regular treatment including radiotherapy, anti-cancer drug therapy, to say nothing of an operation. He died at the age of 78 when he received a bruise on the back which eventually caused his general deterioration.

Treatment & Mechanisms

Proposed Remission Mechanisms

The absence of anxious and depressive reactions and the dramatic change of an outlook on life seemed to have led to the full activation of their innate self-recuperative potentials and to have helped them to make a narrow escape from death. Such an extraordinary psychological achievement was supported and encouraged by their religious faith or favorable change of human environment.

Clinical Treatment

An exploratory excision was conducted from a polyp on the right maxilla. The resection of the tumor was conducted on april 14, 1950. An exploratory excision followed by the microscopic histological examination revealed cancroid (squamonocell carcinoma).

Non-Clinical Treatment

He lived for the next thirteen years without receiving any regular treatment including radiotherapy, anti-cancer drug therapy, to say nothing of an operation.

Additional Notes

The patient was born on a farm in 1886. At the age of eighteen, he became a member of a religious organization (Shinto sect). He was appointed teacher of a church when he was twenty-one. He then became a district leader of the organization and devoted himself to church work throughout his life. He was a taciturn and self-punitive person by nature. After the end of Second World War, his religious organization was exposed to a great crisis. During the war he was asked to take over important business in the administration of his town. With the end of the war, he had a very difficult time carrying out his responsibilities for his neighbors as well as for his church work. Under these circumstances, he suffered from maxilla cancer in 1950. In regard to the state of mind when he declined the laryngoresection as mentioned above, he said he was ready to accept the situation as it was on the basis of his religious conviction. He preferred continuing to be a preacher as long as he could speak to losing his voice by the operation. He felt “This is God’s will and I have no complaint about it. Whatever should happen will just happen.” Course of Illness: Ten days after “the sentence of cancer,” he visited the president of the religious organization, who said to him: “Remember that you are an invaluable asset for our church.” This made him feel very happy and he shed tears of joy all the way back home. Since this moving experience, his hoarseness began to improve and he began to give a short speech at his church four months later (July 1952). At this time his voice was still hoarse. Six months later, however, he spoke thirty minutes in the church and this time his voice was quite clear (this sermon was tape recorded). In the literature concerning psychosomatic aspects of cancer, it has been noted that cancer patients, after having become aware of their cancer, often show a tendency of repression and are apt to lapse into depression with lack of motivation toward life and fear of death. This patient, however, did not demonstrate these characteristics at all. Today Dr. F. says: “The cancer of this patient seemed to be practically cured. When I looked into the vocal cord through laryngoscopy, the tumor was gone…”