Studies show lidocaine may help fight cancer
Medications for the treatment of cancer are an exciting area of medicine today.
There are some real breakthroughs happening in pharmaceutical products that activate the body's own natural healing system, the immune system.
Monoclonal antibodies, interferons, cancer vaccines, as well as cancer-fighting viruses are new approaches that hold great promise even in serious, late stage cancers.
In reviewing some of these new therapies I stumbled upon a study describing the anticancer activity of a pain medication, lidocaine.
Upon further investigation I realized that there were seven other research studies demonstrating that lidocaine has significant anticancer activity.
Who would've thought that a 50-year-old pain medication could possibly be effective in the fight against cancer?
Lidocaine was first researched in the mid-1940s at the Institute of Chemistry at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden. It was discovered that it is a potent anesthetic and has been used as such ever since.
Over the years it has been discovered that lidocaine can reduce certain cardiac arrhythmias. Some studies have also demonstrated that lidocaine is anti-inflammatory and is toxic to some bacteria.
Of interest is that there is medical research demonstrating that anesthetics like lidocaine may inhibit cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. One of the intriguing aspects of lidocaine is that since it has been around for so long, and used so extensively, it is very inexpensive. A single dose of lidocaine is often less than a dollar.
The first article I read on lidocaine and cancer was published in the medical journal PLoS One in 2014. The cancer cells used in the study were from thyroid cancer and it was discovered that lidocaine stops the growth of thyroid cancer cells through a number of different pathways.
This overall effect led to significant cancer cell death or, in the medical jargon, apoptosis.
Other studies, published earlier have demonstrated that lidocaine is effective, in the test tube, against neuroblastoma, breast cancer, lymphoma and oral cancer cells. In all the studies lidocaine dramatically increased the rate of apoptosis.
Unfortunately, none of the studies examined the effect of lidocaine injected directly into a tumor in a person.
Although the development of new anticancer drugs is exciting, it is really quite expensive. For many forms of cancer, the annual cost of chemotherapy can easily exceed $100,000. The newer forms of chemotherapy are even more expensive.
Many cancer patients need years of chemotherapy and the total medical cost can be staggering.
Lidocaine, on the other hand, per dose is not much more expensive than a pack of chewing gum. Undoubtedly there might be other non-cancer medications with significant anticancer activity. The problem is that no one is looking.
In contrast to many anticancer drugs, the serious side effects of lidocaine are few including dizziness, nausea, vomiting, confusion, low blood pressure and a slow heart rate.
Many people get lidocaine injections when they are having dental work done and exhibit no serious side effects whatsoever.
Given the anticancer activity of lidocaine in the test tube, animal studies and clinical trials could be quite beneficial.
• Patrick B. Massey, MD, PH.D., is medical director for complementary and alternative medicine at Alexian Brothers Hospital Network and president of ALT-MED Medical and Physical Therapy, 1544 Nerge Road, Elk Grove Village. His website is www.alt-med.org.