A Treatment for Cancer?

Digitalis has been used to treat heart disease since the nineteenth century. But now, some believe that digitalis may be able to treat cancer too.

In 1930, a professor at Purdue University started to look at medical records of those who used digitalis. He noticed that none of them had died of cancer. He wondered if digitalis could treat cancer, but when he explained this to his peers, they began to wonder if he was crazy. No one discussed the possibility again until 1974.

In 1974, Dr Bjorn Stenkvist conducted a study to test the effects of digitalis in breast cancer patients. Tumors in patients taking digitalis grew slower than tumors in patients who did not take digitalis.

Another study in 1984 produced similar results to the original study in 1930.

In the 1990's, Dr. Johan Haux studied the relationship between digitalis and cancer. He found that one type of digitalis, digitalis purpurea, did seem to treat cancer, while another form of digitalis, digitalis lanata, did not seem to treat cancer. Dr. Haux had trouble publishing his study, but eventually he published in the Journal of Oncology. Dr. Haux is currently conducting more research on the subject.

"Digitalis is the right drug being used to treat the wrong disease," says Wayne Martin, who helped conduct the first study on the relationship between digitalis and cancer. However, with many people considering these studies ridiculous and crazy, it is impossible to say if these studies could really lead to the treatment of cancer or if the studies are just complete nonsense.

For more information about the possible links between digitalis and cancer treatment, click here.