Steve Jobs doomed himself by shunning conventional medicine until too late, claims Harvard expert

Steve Jobs would probably be alive today if he had not put off conventional medical treatment in favour of alternative remedies, a leading cancer doctor has said.

Dr Ramzi Amri, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, claims the Apple boss had a mild form of cancer that is rarely fatal and that his choice of treatment 'eventually led to an unnecessarily early death'.

Writing on Quora, a forum frequented by Silicon Valley executives, Dr Amri said: 'Let me cut to the chase - Mr Jobs allegedly chose to undergo all sorts of alternative treatment options before opting for conventional medicine.

Claims: Steve Jobs, pictured in June, would probably be alive today if he had not put off conventional medical treatment in favour of alternative remedies, a leading cancer expert said

'Given the circumstances, it seems sound to assume that Mr Jobs' choice for alternative medicine has eventually led to an unnecessarily early death.'

Mr Jobs died earlier this month due to respiratory arrest caused by pancreatic cancer. He was 56.

His death certificate, released by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department this week, said that Mr Jobs had a 'metastatic pancreas neuroendocrine tumor' and there would not be an autopsy.

The certificate also stated that Mr Jobs had the cancer for eight years before his death and that he was first diagnosed in October 2003.

Leading authority: Dr Ramzi Amri is an expert on pancreatic cancer who works at Harvard Medical School

Dr Amri claimed that Mr Jobs succumbed to the disease more quickly because of his apparent refusal to embrace 'conventional treatment', especially over the last year, the period when he visibly began to lose weight.

The pancreatic cancer expert wrote: 'It seems that even during this recurrent phase, Mr Jobs opted to dedicate his time to Apple as the disease progressed, instead of opting for chemotherapy or any other conventional treatment.'

For nine months between his diagnosis in 2003 and at least July 2004, Mr Jobs 'decided to employ alternative methods to treat his pancreatic cancer, hoping to avoid the operation through a special diet ', according to a 2008 CNN Money article.

But the rapid advance of the cancer caused Mr Jobs to undergo an operation known as a 'Whipple procedure' in which he had his pancreas and duodenum removed.

Dr Amri suggests that this procedure, which is only undertaken if the cancer is quickly spreading, might not have been necessary had the Apple CEO pursued conventional medicine sooner.

He wrote: 'The only reason he'd have a transplant would be that the tumour invaded all major parts of the liver, which takes a considerable amount of time.'

Tributes: A makeshift memorial for Mr Jobs was set-up at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, last week

Dr Amri claims that had Mr Jobs had the cancer surgically removed immediately after the disease was diagnosed then he may well have survived with 'no residual side-effects'.

He added that as Mr Jobs had comparatively mild neuroendocrine tumors, compared to the far more aggressive pancreatic adenocarcinoma tumours that 95 per cent of pancreatic cancer sufferers have.

He wrote: 'In my series of patients, for many subtypes, the survival rate was as high as 100 per cent over a decade.'

Dr Amri said he had the 'profoundest respect for Mr Jobs and his legacy' and did not wish to offend anyone with his comments.

But he added: 'I have done 1.5 years of research on the type of tumour that affected Steve Jobs and have some strong opinions on his case, not only as an admirer of his work, but also as a cancer researcher who has the impression that his disease course has been far from optimal.'

When contacted by website Gawker, Dr Amri said: 'I wrote that on a personal title and it's my personal opinion.'

ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS

It is unclear what 'special diet' Steve Jobs may have adhered to after he was diagnosed with the tumour. He was known to be a pescetarian, so ate fish alongside a vegetarian diet. 

He may have consulted a dietician after diagnosis because people with pancreatic disease often find it hard to digest fat. Enzymes are often prescribed to help break down food as the pancreas is not working as effectively. 

Alternative treatments that may relieve symptoms of the disease - such as nausea and pain -  include acupuncture, herbal supplements such as plant-derived enzymes and massage therapy. However, there is no robust medical evidence any of these could actually fight the disease.

We know that Mr Jobs didn't follow the controversial 'Gonzalez protocol', which is supposed to treat pancreatic cancer using vegetable juices, 150 daily supplements and having coffee enemas. This is because Dr
Nicholas Gonzalez himself said the Apple-founder had not gone to him. He went on to say had Jobs done so he could have saved his life - although the early termination of a trial comparing chemotherapy to Gonzalez’ protocol would suggest otherwise.

Meanwhile Dr David Gorski, from the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, is cautious about judging Mr Jobs’ decision to not have immediate treatment. 

He said on sciencebasedmedicine.org: 'While Jobs certainly didn’t do himself any favours by waiting nine months to undergo definitive surgical therapy of his tumor, it’s very easy to overstate the potential harm that he did to himself by not immediately letting surgeons re-sect his tumor shortly after it was diagnosed eight years ago.'

He added: 'There is no information of how large the tumour was upon its discovery or by how much it grew during those nine months. Whatever the case was, the surgery was apparently a success, with complete removal of the tumour.'

Mr Jobs originally had an islet cell neuroendocrine tumour, which tend to be slow growing and can be treated even if they spread to the liver.