My INUSpheresis Experience - 051
I decided to undergo INUSpheresis, a blood purifying system, to help my immune system function better by removing pathogenic proteins and toxins. It's a low-risk procedure with a catheter positioned in a vein in each arm. One vein is a blood donor; the other receives the returned blood cells and cleansed plasma.
Double-filtration plasmapheresis
Double-filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP), developed in the 1970s, removes particles in blood plasma with sizes between the pore size of the first (plasma separator) and second filter membrane (plasma fractionator).
The plasma separator first separates the blood into plasma and blood cells. The separated plasma is then fractionated into large and small molecular weight components. The machine then returns blood cells and plasma with small molecular weight components to the patient while the large molecular weight components, called eluate, are filtered out.
European scientists designed a unique filter, TKM58, to use with DFPP to target proinflammatory proteins and toxins. DFPP with a TKM58 filter is called INSUpheresis and is only available in 43 centers in Europe and 1 in the United Arab Emirates.
Clinics using the TKM58 filter say it "has an immunological membrane with fine pores and a special structure designed to eliminate pathogenic proteins and toxic substances bound to proteins. The TKM58 works by filtering according to size, shape, and weight."
"In contrast to many other blood purification procedures, INUSpheresis retains important proteins, electrolytes and antibodies in the blood. This ensures that the body is optimally supplied during treatment and does not lose any vital nutrients."
In addition, "during INUSpheresis, an osmotic effect is created that makes it possible to remove pathogens not only from the blood, but also from the connective tissue, fatty tissue, nerve tissue, the eyes and all internal organs."
Scientists designed INUSpheresis to remove:
Pathogenic proteins
Paraproteins and haptens
Pathogenic antibodies and autoantibodies
Tumor-associated proteins
Circulating immune complexes
Inflammatory substances such as C-reactive protein
Environmental toxins
Toxins from microorganisms
Heavy metals
Pesticides
Fungicides
Microplastics
For more detailed information about INUSpheresis, go to https://alpine-biomedical.ch/en/therapies/inuspheresis/
Plasmapheresis
Plasmapheresis with a membrane filter is a similar but riskier therapeutic procedure available in the United States (U.S.). Doctors must insert a central venous catheter into a large vein in the neck or shoulder under local anesthesia. In addition, doctors must transfuse donated plasma or albumin products to replace the plasma removed.
Plasmapheresis removes toxic proteins and antibodies in the blood that contribute to certain diseases, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy, myasthenia gravis, and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.
Plasmapheresis also removes excess copper from the body in severe Wilson’s disease. However, it is not approved to remove environmental pollutants or toxins.
Switzerland
I chose the Alpstein Clinic in Gais, Switzerland, for INUSpheresis because my doctor and friend, Dr. Daniel Kessler, has family in Switzerland and knows the clinic's medical director.
In addition, Mike and I were already planning a trip to Europe, and we were flying to Zurich as our entry point. We stayed in St. Gallen, an hour's drive from Zurich’s airport. Then, it was only a 20-minute drive from our hotel in St. Gallen to the clinic in Gais.
After an overnight flight, we arrived in Zurich on Saturday, rented a car, and drove to Gais. On Sunday, we toured the city and found a fantastic little Ethiopian restaurant with outdoor dining.
Alpstein Clinic
The Alpstein Clinic is in a beautiful small mountain town called Gais, which has plenty of small hotels and restaurants. The clinic's campus is split into three buildings within walking distance of each other.
On Monday morning, I first met with the patient manager, who gave me a packet including general information, a schedule, an INUSpheresis consent form, and a consent form for expected costs. We discussed what to expect, and she answered all of my questions.
I had already paid $9,506.14 as a downpayment via credit card before we left the U.S. I was told the only additional charge I could expect would be a fee for sending the eluant for toxicology analysis if I chose to do that.
I was very interested in finding out what INUSpheresis pulled from my body, so I agreed to the additional charge of $625.68, which I also paid by credit card. My total bill from Alpstein Clinic was $10,131.82.
Could I have gotten INUSpheresis at a cheaper price from another clinic in Europe? Maybe. But I wanted to avoid shopping around since Daniel had recommended the clinic, and we planned to fly into Zurich anyway.
After reviewing the detailed description of services, I found that the price included intravenous medications and remedies supplied with each procedure, including 5000 units of heparin, 7.5 grams of vitamin C, 600 mg of reduced glutathione, and several herbal preparations.
We then walked to the INSUphersis building and met with Dr. Frank Kaiser, the medical doctor in charge of INUSpheresis. Dr. Kaiser, an anesthesiologist, showed me the INUSpheresis machine and procedure room. I also met Mirjam (pronounced Miriam), his nurse, who exuded kindness.
Dr. Kaiser answered my questions and then sent me back to the main building to have labs drawn and an electrocardiogram (ECG) performed. My ECG, complete blood cell count, prothrombin time, and fibrinogen levels were normal.
Before I scheduled the appointment, I emailed the clinic a detailed summary of my medical history, most recent labs, and diagnostic testing for review. So, when I met with Dr. Kaiser, he was already familiar with my medical history.
I read the consent form, which reported the following list of potential complications:
Dizziness and drop in blood pressure
Rare instances of heart rhythm disturbances
Hematomas to the puncture sites
Injury to skin, arm, and nerve
Allergic reaction to heparin
Allergic reaction to foreign material
The treatment
I must admit that I was a little nervous when I arrived the following day for my first INUSpheresis procedure. None of the potential complications concerned me. I was most anxious about needing to urinate during the procedure.
I expected the procedure to last two hours. I knew I'd be getting intravenous saline along with the other medications and remedies I'd previously mentioned. In addition, I'd be getting back my blood cells and cleansed plasma.
Just as with the extracorporeal blood oxygenation and ozone procedure I'd received in March 2024, I would have an intravenous line in each arm. I'd need to hold still so as not to upset the flow of blood, and I knew I wouldn't be able to use my hands to urinate if I needed to. That's what I was most nervous about. LOL!
You'd think I'd be immune to privacy concerns given all that I've been through in this cancer journey, but no.
Mike and I promptly walked into the INUSpheresis center at 8 am. Dr. Kaiser and Mirjam warmly greeted us and showed me which gurney to lie on. I removed my long-sleeved shirt and shoes and lay down.
Dr. Kaiser painlessly inserted an intravenous line in each antecubital fossa vein, and we started the procedure. The gurney was comfortable, with a heating pad under both arms and feet. Mike sat next to the gurney until I told him he could go, and he left to work out at a nearby gym.
About an hour into the procedure, I felt the need to urinate. I asked Mirjam what we'd do if I needed to urinate. She told me that I wouldn't be the first, not to worry, and she'd take care of everything.
She then surrounded my gurney with partitions, brought out a urinal container, and took care of everything else. She is a nurse, after all, and she made it all easy. I stopped worrying and napped for the remainder of the procedure.
As Dr. Kaiser removed the intravenous lines, he told me the filter had filled and filtered my blood three times during the procedure, which was typical. They brought out the eluant for me to see.
It looked like a dark, golden, somewhat opaque liquid. I asked if everyone's eluant looked the same. Mirjam said no, that some have my color, while others with a lot of inflammation tend to show a reddish hue. She also said two airline pilots' eluants looked like Coca-Cola.
Dr. Kaiser told me that my body would be working overtime to adjust to the detoxification support and that I should lay low for the rest of the day. He also told me to expect mild swelling of my hands and eyes, given that the filter removed some blood protein bound to the toxins.
I had some very mild swelling of my hands, which resolved by the next day. It was the swelling you don't see, but it makes your ring harder to remove. It was a combination of the procedure and jet lag, and when I returned to the hotel, I slept like a rock until it was time for dinner.
INUSpheresis practitioners recommend one treatment followed by a day off and then a second treatment. So, the next day, Mike and I drove to Lake Lucerne and had my birthday lunch by the lake.
I turned 60 the day between INUSpheresis treatments but happily spent my birthday seeing gorgeous Swiss landscapes. Although the weather was overcast, the drive was beautiful.
The following day, I arrived back in Gais for my second and final INUSpheresis treatment. I wasn't nervous this time and napped for almost the entire procedure.
Live blood analysis
After the procedure, Dr. Kaiser asked me to come into the microscope room to see images of my blood before and after INUSpheresis. Having studied European biological medicine, I was familiar with live blood analysis, known as darkfield microscopy.
Live blood analysis looks at a drop of fresh blood under a high-resolution darkfield microscope. It's not used in mainstream medicine and is considered pseudoscientific, unregulated, and unsupported by clinical trials. I find it fascinating.
Dr. Kaiser had taken a drop of my blood before we started the first treatment and then again after the final treatment, and here are the differences.
Pretreatment
Posttreatment
He made videos of both blood samples, as the blood was alive and fresh. The videos show my white blood cells moving around the slide on patrol for invaders. It was very cool to see.
Does it have solid scientific evidence to make diagnoses? No, but my before-and-after movies and screenshots are fascinating. And the post-treatment analysis is cleaner looking.
Someone may one day conduct adequate clinical trials on darkfield microscopy and prove the naysayers wrong. I'd love that.
Posttreatment strangeness
On my way to check out of the clinic, I had to climb a flight of stairs and became significantly short of breath. That had never happened before, and I immediately thought I might be in congestive heart failure or having a pulmonary embolus.
Once I got on level ground and talked myself off the ledge, I realized I was not short of breath, and my legs had no swelling. I attributed it to transient hypotension from the treatment and moved on without telling Dr. Kaiser.
At dinner that night, I had an adrenaline rush and started feeling like I might have a panic attack, as the episode of shortness of breath was still on my mind. I told Mike what was happening, and he said, "It's over, you're done, it's okay." And he was right. It resolved, and we returned to the hotel.
I had come a very long way to be here and hadn't gotten any sleep on the plane. I was probably still jet-lagged and had just undergone two days of treatment, which had stressed my body and mind.
Off to Florence
We spent one more day in Gais, mostly chilling in the hotel, before setting off on a 7.5-hour drive to Florence, Italy. The drive was the most scenic I've ever taken and probably will take, and it made the entire trip worthwhile.
We spent five nights in Florence, touring the cityscape, museums, and botanical gardens. The food was terrific, and the people were very friendly. The most fantastic thing in Florence was seeing Michelangelo's David. It was just stunning!
The return trip
The day we returned, the traffic was busy, and the weather was rainy, so it took a little over 8 hours to make it back to Zurich. We stayed in a hotel at the airport in preparation for the 8-hour flight back the following day.
Then, we had a 4-hour layover in New York before returning to Jacksonville. I had never been seated for that long before, and when I got home, I noticed swelling in my legs.
It was shocking to see swelling in my legs for the first time. It was 1+ pitting pretibial edema consistent with lymphedema. There was no swelling in my feet or calf pain to suggest venous insufficiency or a deep vein thrombosis.
I wore knee-high compression stockings for three days, and it resolved. In retrospect, I was a set-up for lower extremity lymphedema.
The prior radiation to my para-aortic lymph chains and entire pelvis is bound to have caused scarring in my lymphatics. Combine that with the INUSpheresis and sitting for a ridiculous amount of time, and you will get lymphedema.
The eluant results
The day we returned to Jacksonville, I received an email containing the toxicology report of the eluant. The four highest analytes were cobalt, chromium, tin, and indium. I had high levels of titanium, moderate levels of mercury and arsenic, and tolerable levels of cadmium. I had no detectable levels of aluminum, and I’m deficient in zinc.
I have no detectable levels of twenty-three insecticides, pesticides, or polychlorinated biphenyls. I attribute that to the fact that Mike and I use an all-natural pest control, which is as effective as typical pesticides. They use a combination of essential oils, boric acid, diatomaceous earth, and other proprietary ingredients.
I had moderate acetone, ethanol, toluene, and trimethylbenzene levels. I also had trace levels of 2-propanol and dichloromethane. Fourteen other solvents and halogenated hydrocarbons were undetected.
Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the results. A brief review of the explanation shows these are substances we are all exposed to in the environment. My moderate heavy metal levels were on the lower end of the moderate range.
I received a document explaining the results, and I’m still reviewing it. I will discuss the results of the eluant with Dr. Kaiser when I meet with him for a follow-up via Zoom in three weeks.
Conclusion
Do I regret doing the INUSpheresis while on vacation? No. I'd do it again the same way. Do I feel any different? No, but I didn't expect to. Do I hope that it helps my body fight off this cancer? Absolutely!
For me, it's better than doing nothing. As I say, the proof will be in the pudding. December will be seven years since I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.
In a way, I'm glad I was intolerant of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). A subset of men with TP53, RB1, or PTEN mutations have a limited response to ADT.
Would I be castrate-resistant by now had I stayed on ADT? Without a doubt, yes. Would I have developed neuroendocrine prostate cancer? Maybe. Would I have had a miserable seven years of quality of life? Yes.
What has happened to me thus far has been for the best. I've had a great quality of life for the most part. I can only pray that my good quality of life continues.
I'm due for labs and a positron emission tomography (PET) contrasted tomography (CT) scan. I'll schedule a follow-up with my radiation oncologist.
I continue to hope for the best and am thankful for what I have now.
Until the next one, stay healthy.
Much love,
Keith