Patients with brain metastases with lung cancer have been controlled by a ketogenic diet for up to 14 years

Introduction: With the improvement of living standards, healthy diet has gradually become a topic
of concern.
In recent years, some ways that are different from traditional diets have entered our lives, such as a vegan diet, a ketogenic diet, etc
.
These diets not only give people more choices about how to eat, but some diets can also play a role
in controlling diseases.

For example, in the newly published article below, a patient with brain metastases with lung cancer who uses a ketogenic diet to control the condition after chemoradiation and chemoradiation has benefited for up to 14 years
without any treatment measures.
Let's take a look
.

Learn about the ketogenic diet

Malignant tumor cells are somewhat different from
normal cells.
According to Warburg's theory, most cancer cells have abnormal mitochondria, and cancer cells rely heavily on glucose
.
Normal cells can get energy
from ketone bodies when the body does not have glucose supply.
Limiting glucose uptake through diet and starving cancer cells to death is the principle
of ketogenic therapy.

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate, moderate protein diet, of which protein accounts for about 20%, carbohydrates account for 5%-10%, and fat accounts for 70%-80%.

Unlike normal dietary structures, the ketogenic diet produces ketone body energy
through metabolism.

Ketogenic metabolic therapy is considered an effective complement to cancer treatment measures, or even an effective alternative treatment measure
.
It has been reported that a ketogenic diet consisting of medium-chain triglycerides has played a role
in the long-term management of children with astrocytoma.
In studies of glioblastoma, there is also some evidence to support
adjuvant therapy with a ketogenic diet.

Lung cancer patients with brain metastases benefit from a ketogenic diet

On 30 December 2007, a 54-year-old man was admitted to hospital for
headache, dizziness, gait ataxia, vomiting, and blurred vision.
MRI of the brain reveals multiple metastatic lesions in the
brain.

The patient had a history of smoking for up to 36 years (4 to 5 sachets per day), so the lung tumor was screened
first.
CT scan of the chest revealed a 6 cm × 3 cm lesion in the upper right side of the lung, and pathological biopsy confirmed neuroendocrine non-small cell lung cancer
.
Except for brain metastases, no metastatic lesions
have been found in other lymph nodes or organs.

From 24 January 2008 to 7 February 2008, the patient received total brain radiotherapy and no radiation therapy
to the lungs.
After the end of radiotherapy to the brain, 6 cycles of chemotherapy were performed, and the chemotherapy drugs were paclitaxel and carboplatin
.
Patients present with better tolerance
.

In June 2008, in order to stabilize the patient, he began to try the ketogenic diet, and the diet gradually transitioned from a 1:1 ketogenic ratio to 3:1, and gradually adapted to this dietary pattern
.
No serious adverse effects were found during the treatment of the ketogenic diet, and in June 2011, kidney stones were detected and removed
by lithotripsis.

After the end of chemoradiotherapy, brain lesions shrank from 5.
5 cm × 6.
2 cm to 4 cm × 2.
7 cm
.
Lung tumors shrink from 6 cm × 3 cm to 2 cm × 1.
8 cm
.

Figure 1.
After chemoradiation and chemoradiotherapy, the lesions of the brain shrink significantly

After the patient started the ketogenic diet, the brain lesions continued to shrink to 1.
9 cm × 1 cm without any intervention, and calcification
occurred.
Lung tumors also shrank further to 1.
7 cm × 1 cm
.

Figure 2.
The brain lesions shrink further after the ketogenic diet

During the ketogenic diet, the patient's glucose level is maintained at 60-70 mg/dL (about 3.
3-3.
9 mmol/L), while the ketone level rises to 2 mmol/L, and the glucose-ketone index (GKI) converted from glucose and ketone values is about 1.
8
.
During the 10 years of adhering to the ketogenic diet, the patient's weight remained relatively stable and did not develop any dyslipidemia
.

In 2018, the patient's cholesterol and triglycerides were elevated, and dyslipidemia appeared, so the ketogenic diet
was terminated.
Another four years have passed since the ketogenic diet was stopped, and the patients showed no signs
of tumor recurrence.

Looking back at the results of the patient's imaging examination for more than ten years, it can be seen that the overall control of the disease is very good, and the patient has benefited from the ketogenic diet for 14 years
.

revelation

Studies have reported that normal hypoglycemia can lead to a decrease in brain tumor growth and improve patient survival
.
The ketogenic diet restricts the uptake of glucose, and there are many cases reported on the ketogenic diet for the treatment of brain cancer in children and adults, but the control of brain metastasis for lung cancer is relatively rare
.

In this case, after the patient's radiotherapy and chemotherapy was completed, it was undoubtedly a miracle
that the disease was effectively controlled and long-term survival was achieved simply by changing the dietary pattern.
From the perspective of strict evidence-based medicine, the ketogenic diet can control the disease, and there is no large phase III clinical trial to confirm this effect, and there is a lack of relevant guidelines to recognize the recommendation
.

However, such clinical trials are more difficult to carry out, but this way of controlling the disease may be worth trying
in some cases.
The degree of cancer should also remind everyone that before starting the ketogenic diet, you must conduct a comprehensive assessment of the body, go to the nutrition department of a professional hospital for consultation, adjust the diet structure, and track the disease prognosis and the indicators of the body, which must be carried out
under the guidance of a professional doctor.

We also look forward to contacting patients who have tried the ketogenic diet to share your experience with cancer
.

Cancer, accompany you through every step of the fight against cancer!

Reference: Athanasios E Evangeliou, et al.
, Restricted Ketogenic Diet Therapy for Primary Lung Cancer With Metastasis to the Brain: A Case Report.
Cureus.
2022 Aug 2;

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