The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Century's Most Promising Cancer Treatment...and the Government's Campaign to Squelch It [Hardcover]

Thomas D. Elias (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

There is hope in the fight against cancer, and for thousands of devoted cancer survivors, that hope goes by the name of a Houston, Texas, doctor named Stanislaw Burzynski. This book presents the astonishing story of Dr. Burzynski's revolutionary discovery of antineoplastons, the century's most promising cancer treatment--and the government's decade-long effort to suppress information about it. 30 photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Stanislaw Burzynski was born to a well-to-do family in Poland in 1942. While in medical school, he became involved in research and eventually discovered peptides in blood and urine that warranted further study as anticancer agents. In 1970, about to be drafted into the army, Burzynski left for the U.S. Given a chance to continue his research in Houston, Burzynski ultimately developed antineoplastons and established a large clinic. During the next 25 years, some 2,500 patients came to him; many of them had "failed" with the generally accepted chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Burzynski infused them with antineoplastons through a chest catheter, achieving successful results in a substantial number of cases. The FDA and organized medicine, however, launched political and legal attacks against him. Elias, whose partisanship is plain, interweaves Burzynski's story and the stories of some of his patients.Thorough scientific studies seem necessary to clarify the currently murky status of Burzynski's treatment. William Beatty

Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: General Pub Group; First Edition edition (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1575440180
• ISBN-13: 978-1575440187
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 4.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,148,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Hope - A Response to Lauren Seiler, November 1, 2002

By 

Jodi Gold (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burzynski Breakthrough (Hardcover)

I am the best evidence that the conclusions drawn by Lauren Seiler in his Oct. 20, 2002 review of this book are completely wrong. I hope he reads this and seeks out the Burzynski treatment for his son, whose life it might well save. I was diagnosed with an inoperable anaplastic astrocytoma (Grade 3 brain tumor) in May 2000. Doctors told me that I had somewhere between 6 and 18 months to live. I am alive and cancer free today in large part because of "The Burzynski Breakthrough," the book and the treatment. Shortly after my diagnosis, I learned of this book and, unlike Seiler, contacted the author with questions that were in some ways like his, and in some ways different. After reading the book and hearing Elias' answers, I sought out the treatment and was symptom free within less than four months - just when my other doctors had told me I should be on my deathbed.

When I read Seiler's review, I telephone Elias and asked him to provide me responses to some of his criticisms. Here is a summary of what he told me, going through the Seiler review point by point:

There is no bibliography in the rear of this book because every source is identified specifically in the text. Elias said his publisher did not wish to list all Burzynski's publications because they number more than 500, and he has cited the most relevant ones in the text of the book.

Elias does indeed describe his methods for choosing patients included in the book. In both the prologue and epilogue, he details the cases of patients he met in the waiting room of the Burzynski Clinic on his first visit there, a completely unannounced visit. He included histories of all patients present who were willing to be interviewed in the epilogue and the prologue. As for the choice of which patients to use as full-length case-history chapters in in the book, Elias said they were chosen in a method he described as akin to the stratified random sampling done by political pollsters. Since he wanted broad geographic distribution (and got it, with patients from CA, AL, NY and points in between), he selectd at random from a list of Burzynski patients from various regions - the South, West, Northeast, etc.

Seiler wondered about the authenticity of the tables in the rear of the book and asked how long those in complete remission had been at that category. As he would have seen had he read the charts in detail, all information came from Burzynski's submissions to the U.S. Food and Drug Aministration. He would risk criminal prosecution if any such information was falsified. The definitions of complete remission, partial response and stable disease are precisely those the FDA uses in all clinical trials of cancer drugs. Those listed in complete remission have been in that condition for varying lengths of time. The best evidence for the truth of positive results reported in the charts is the fact that negative results are also reported in the same charts. Neither Burzynski nor Elias has ever claimed this treatment is 100% successful.

Seiler also notes that there is little critical comment in the book. In point of fact, the book contains an entire chapter detailing criticisms of Burzynski, his methods and his Antineoplastons, rebutting them in detail. It is simply false to say Elias has ignored the critics when he has specifically responded to the most prominent of those critics. As for criticisms by patients, Elias reports that even among prosecution witnesses at Burzynski's criminal trial in 1997, he found none.

Elias also responds to Seiler's concluding comments, one by one:

1. Elias admits on Page 8 not being an expert reader of MRIs. But, Seiler suggests, he should have brought an expert with him. Elias notes that on Page 8, part of his acknowledgements, he was discussing the news story he wrote on strict deadline about Burzynski while still a correspondent for Scripps Howard. He says he did seek expert readings of scans later, while researching the book.

2. Seiler says Elias mentions a Stage 2 astrocytoma on Page 280, when these tumors are designated by grades, not stages. Elias responds by noting that the "Stage 2" reference came ina direct quotation from a physician, adding that he at no point changed even a word in any direct quotation included in the book.

3. To Seiler's objection to one of Elias' conclusions, the author responds that "facts are facts. I describe the situation as it is, not what I or anyone lese wishes it to be."

In short, I am living evidence that Elias does not offer false hope in his book, as Seiler claims. To the contrary, anyone who sees me (and hundreds of other long-surviving Burzynski patients) will know there is real hope with the Burzynski treatment for cancer patients of all kinds, and especially for brain tumor patients, for whom nothing else works at all.

Jodi Gold - Los Angeles, CA

60 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real eye-opener, November 26, 2002

By 

Henry Wasserman (Deerfield, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burzynski Breakthrough (Hardcover)

Some say that Burzynski is a quack, but this book establishes that the reverse is true -- he's actually a hero who has discovered a way to save untold numbers of lives, while the establishment doctors who have ostracized him are the real phonies. Like many scientists who defy current paradigms, Burzynski has been subjected to ridicule and fierce opposition. Arthur Schopenhauer once wrote that "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident." My guess is that Burzynski's treatment is nearing stage 3 and will eventually be accepted as a standard treatment.

In this very readable book, Elias establishes beyond much doubt that this treatment works on many cancers. The charts in the appendix are the only place I have ever seen comprehensive statistics reporting how well a particular drug performs against any specific type of cancer. Why don't the other drugs report their numbers? Probably, because they don't work nearly as well as this one. What's more, Elias establishes through very meticulous documentation that the top scientific agencies of the U.S. government have known for years about how effective and non-toxic the Burzynski treatment usually is.

In short, this book is a must read for anyone with cancer or anyone with a relative or friend suffering from any form of the disease.

54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Burzynski Breakthrough, March 12, 2003

By 

Paul F. Leverett (Houston, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burzynski Breakthrough (Hardcover)

I am a previous patient of Dr. Burzynski. I was going through the antineoplaston treatment when Mr. Elias wrote his book. So, my details were not mentioned in his book, nor were my results included in the statistics he references.

I had a glioblastoma multiforme grade 4. Given less than a year to live I searched all over for any kind of hope. I found hope in the form of Dr. Burzynski and his antineoplaston treatment. My story is located on the web at cancerguide.org and can be found under the inspirational stories section.

I really did not pay too much attention to all the controversy surrounding Dr. Burzynski until I read Mr. Elias' "The Burzynski Breakthrough". Elias details very accurately the treatment I was on and the process at the Burzynski clinic.

As a patient that actually completed the antineoplaston treatment I can say that Thomas Elias has done an excellent job in describing the potential benefits of antineoplaston treatment as well as chronicling the persecution Burzynski has endured to keep his medicine available to us all. (Even though severely restricted by the FDA).

Thank you Thomas Elias.

Paul Leverett