Life Over Cancer: The Block Center Program for Integrative Cancer Treatment

Keith I. Block, M.D.

Bantam,  April 2009

The best of conventional medicine combined with scientifically supported complementary therapies
State-of-the-art anticancer nutrition, fitness, and mind-body wellness plans
Proven ways to make treatment more effective while reducing toxicity and side effects
A complete remission maintenance program to help keep you cancer-free

Dr. Keith Block is at the global vanguard of innovative cancer care. As medical director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Evanston, Illinois, he has treated thousands of patients who have lived long, full lives beyond their original prognoses. Now he has distilled almost thirty years of experience into the first book that gives patients a systematic, research-based plan for developing the physical and emotional vitality they need to meet the demands of treatment and recovery.

Based on a profound understanding of how body and mind can work together to defeat disease, this groundbreaking book offers:
  • Innovative approaches to conventional treatments, such as "chronotherapy" -- chemotherapy timed to patients' unique circadian rhythms for enhanced effectiveness and reduced toxicity
  • Dietary choices that make the biochemical environment hostile to cancer growth and recurrence, and strengthen the immune system's ability to attack remaining cancer cells
  • Precise supplement protocols to tame treatment side effects, relieve disease-related symptoms, and modify processes like inflammation and glycemia that can fuel cancer if left untreated
  • A new paradigm for exercise and stress reduction that restores your strength, reduces anxiety and depression, and supports the body's own ability to heal
  • A complete program for remission maintenance -- a proactive plan to make sure the cancer never returns
Also included are "quick-start" maps to help you find the information you need right now and many case histories that will support and inspire you. Encouraging, compassionate, and authoritative, Life Over Cancer is the guide patients everywhere have been waiting for.

hardcover | ISBN: 9780553801149 | Publication Date: April 2009

Reviews:
"I consider Dr. Block to be the guiding force in the world of integrative cancer treatment. This book is his life-giving gift to cancer patients everywhere."
--Robert Newman, Ph.D., Professor of Experimental Therapeutics, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

"Life Over Cancer is the program every cancer patient deserves in order to have the best chance for recovery and restoration of health."
--Andrew Weil, M.D.

"Keith Block is a pioneer and leader in integrative cancer care and one of its premier practitioners. This clear, meticulously documented, practical book is a lifeline for anyone who has cancer. It should be required reading for all oncologists."
--James S. Gordon, M.D., former chair, White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy; author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression

"To this day, the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment remains the best and the only truly comprehensive integrative cancer center in the country. This generous book is the exact blueprint for that program and the recipe for its success: hope and science."
--Mark Renneker, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor, Unviersity of California, San Francisco, Medical School

"Dr. Keith Block shares his decades of research and clinical practice, and presents a powerful, practical, and accessible approach for patients, loved ones, caregivers, and health professionals.  This book beautifully reveals the depth of his dedication and commitment to helping people heal."
--Jeremy Geffen, M.D., medical oncologist and author of The Journey Through Cancer: Healing and Transforming the Whole Person
 
"Keith Block, M.D. is the most prominent integrative cancer specialist in the United States. His new book, Life Over Cancer, is the manifesto of the movement for a kinder and more effective form of managing this terrible disease."
--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D., Director, The Moss Reports

"Life Over Cancer is the compilation of Dr. Block's three decades of research and development of his optimal model of integrative cancer treatment. As Chief of Surgical Oncology from a major medical institution, I have sent many patients to the Block Center. They experienced less treatment toxicity, improved treatment response, better quality of life, and improved outcomes. In my opinion, Dr. Block's clinic is unique and what I consider to be the top integrative oncology center in the US. It is where I would go if I was ever diagnosed with cancer."
--N. Joseph Espat, M.D. Professor and Chief, Surgical Oncology Roger Williams Medical Center

"Life Over Cancer is a must-read for anyone combating this disease. It provides genuine hope, as well as the evidence, rationale, and instructions in how to live a healthier, fuller life with cancer, while providing a broader array of treatment options that improve quality of life."
--Nick Vogelzang, M.D., Director, Nevada Cancer Institute Professor of Medicine, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Las Vegas

"Here is cancer care as it should be: person-centered, integrated, individualized and science-based. If you or your loved ones have been touched by cancer, or if you care for those with cancer, read this book."
--Wayne B. Jonas, M.D., President and CEO, Samueli Institute Director (1995-1999), Office of Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health

"Keith Block is one of the great pioneers of integrative oncology. This important book is essential reading for patients and health professionals alike. Block's approach is indicative of much of the future of this critically important field of medicine."
--Michael Lerner, Ph.D., President, Commonwealth Cofounder, Commonweal Cancer Help Program

"Life Over Cancer provides the reader with an accessible and comprehensive program that combines the best of conventional cancer therapy with effective complementary interventions. It is this 'whole person' approach to patient care that Dr. Block brought to the University of Illinois Integrative Medical Education program which he established in the mid-nineties. His dedication and efforts have transformed the school's medical education curriculum, and inspired future physicians to view integrative medicine as a truly significant component of health care."
--L. J. Sandlow, M.D. Senior Associate Dean for Academic & Educational Affairs Professor and Head, Department of Medical Education University of Illinois College of Medicine

"In Life Over Cancer, Dr. Block demonstrates his huge depth of knowledge of the comprehensive management of patients with cancer and illustrates the wealth of opportunities and choices available to them. This is a book about optimism, soundly grounded in science."
--Stephen M. Sagar, M.D. President, Society for Integrative Oncology Associate Professor Oncology & Medicine, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ontario

"Life Over Cancer provides countless strategies to enable the patient to regain some of the lost sense of control that a diagnosis often carries, empowering them to be a true partner in their fight for life. Dr. Block's counsel and guidance have assisted countless medical professionals hoping to provide their own patients with a comprehensive integrative approach to care."
--Donald I. Abrams, M.D., Chief of Hematology-Oncology San Francisco General Hospital Prof. Clinical Medicine, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, UCSF

"How refreshing to come across this thoughtful book. . . . With the boldness of a carpe diem, this evidence-based integrative approach should serve as a wake-up call for oncologists to overcome their obsession with treating cancer as an isolated target and to pay attention to the cancer patient whose own faculties need to be harnessed as agencies to win this war."
--Azra Raza, M.D. Director of the Myelodysplatic Syndrome Center St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center, New York, NY Former Chief Hematology-Oncology University of Massachusetts

"Keith Block is the foremost integrative oncologist in North America. In Life Over Cancer he shares his incomparable depth of knowledge and experience with us and presents a comprehensive, scientific, and practical program for helping people with cancer effectively fight the disease."
--Leo Galland, M.D., Author, Power Healing Director, The Foundation for Integrated Medicine

"Life Over Cancer is a training manual for cancer patients, their families, cancer nurses, oncology pharmacists and oncologists. [It] provides patients with insight and a series of concrete steps to help them live better and longer, despite a cancer diagnosis."
--William J.M. Hrushesky, M.D., Senior Clinician Investigator, Medical Oncology Professor, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, University of South Carolina , WJB Dorn VA Medical Center, Columbia SC