You deserve a treatment that targets the cancer while aiming to preserve your quality of life. At CancerSA, we use the same proven medicines - but at a fraction of the dose, targeted directly into the cancer cells by insulin. Most of our patients keep their hair, their strength, and their lives.
This approach is part of integrative oncology, where treatments are selected based on individual patient needs and may be used alongside or in consideration of conventional medical care.
IPTLD (Insulin Potentiated Targeted Low Dose chemotherapy) is an integrative cancer treatment that uses the same chemotherapy medicines prescribed by conventional oncologists, but administered at approximately 10–15% of the standard dose. By using insulin to target cancer cells directly, IPTLD aims to deliver effective treatment with significantly fewer side effects - allowing most patients to continue their normal daily lives during therapy.
The hair loss. The nausea that makes eating difficult. The strain on your immune system - leaving you vulnerable to every infection. The fatigue so deep you cannot get out of bed for days. The feeling that the treatment is killing you faster than the cancer.
This is what conventional chemotherapy does. It uses the maximum dose your body can survive - and hopes enough poison reaches the cancer before it destroys everything else. Your hair follicles. Your gut lining. Your white blood cells. Your will to keep going.
Many patients reach a point where they stop treatment - not because the cancer won, but because they simply cannot take any more. Others push through but are left with lasting damage to their nerves, their organs, and their spirit.
It does not have to be this way.
At CancerSA in Centurion, Pretoria, we use the same proven oncology medicines your oncologist would prescribe - but we deliver them differently. Using insulin to open cancer cell membranes, we target the drugs directly into the cancer at just 10–15% of the standard dose. Your cancer cells absorb the medicine. Your healthy cells are largely spared. You keep your hair. You keep your energy. You keep your immune system. You keep living. Patients travel from Johannesburg and across Gauteng because this approach simply is not available at most conventional oncology practices.
That is exactly what IPTLD does.
Cancer cells have a weakness. They are addicted to sugar. They consume it at more than double the rate of healthy cells, and they grow extra doors on their surface - called insulin receptors - to let more in. Your cancer cells have up to 16 times more of these doors than your normal cells.
We use this against them.
First, we give you insulin. This does two things: it opens the cancer cell doors wide, and it temporarily lowers your blood sugar so the cancer cells become desperate for anything that looks like fuel. Then - at that exact moment - we deliver the chemotherapy. A fraction of the normal dose. But because the cancer cells have their doors wide open and are pulling everything in, they absorb the medicine directly and preferentially. Your healthy cells, with far fewer doors, absorb very little.
The result? The cancer gets hit hard. Your body is spared. You walk out of the clinic, drive yourself home, and carry on with your day. No hospital bed. No vomiting. No watching your hair fall out in the shower. Treatment designed to help you feel better, not worse.
Chemotherapy only helps if it actually gets inside the cancer cell. That sounds obvious, but it is often the hardest part. Many chemotherapy medicines cannot simply drift across the cell membrane - they depend on specific transport proteins to carry them in, and cells vary enormously in how readily they allow that.
This is where insulin plays its part. Insulin’s normal job is to tell cells to take up nutrients, and it does so within minutes by moving transport proteins to the cell surface. Cancer cells consume glucose far faster than healthy tissue and typically carry more insulin receptors - so they respond strongly to that signal.
The aim of IPTLD is to use that brief window: to increase how much medicine enters the cancer cell during treatment, so that a much smaller total dose can still reach a meaningful concentration where it matters.
Two further things happen once the medicine is inside. Several chemotherapy agents arrive in an inactive form and must be chemically converted by enzymes within the cell before they can work at all. And once converted, many become chemically “locked” inside - unable to pass back out - so they continue acting long after the treatment session has ended.
That is also why treatment is given as a rhythm across the week rather than as one large dose. Cancer cells are not all vulnerable at the same moment, and repeated, spaced treatment reaches a different portion of them each time.
Here is an important fact about conventional oncology: there is currently no standard way to predict in advance which chemotherapy drugs will work for your specific cancer. They choose based on statistics - what works for most people. But you are not most people.
Two patients with the exact same diagnosis can respond completely differently to the same drugs. One may respond well. The other may endure months of side effects from a drug that never had a chance of working for them.
We believe in testing first, not guessing.
Before your treatment begins, we take a simple blood sample and send it to a specialist laboratory. There, your living cancer cells are isolated and tested against a panel of chemotherapy drugs. The lab measures which drugs kill your cancer cells most effectively - and which ones barely touch them.
The result is a report that tells Dr Pretorius exactly which medicines to use in your IPTLD protocol. Not the drugs that work for most people. The drugs that work for you. Less guesswork. More precision. Fewer wasted cycles of treatment with drugs that were never going to help.
No two patients are the same, so no two protocols are identical. But here is what a typical treatment week looks like - and why each day matters.
This is the core of your treatment. Insulin opens the cancer cell doors. Low-dose chemo goes in. Infrared heat makes the cancer cells even more vulnerable and stops them from repairing the damage. You sit in a comfortable chair for 2–3 hours. Most patients read, rest, or scroll their phones. Then you drive yourself home.
Today is about clearing the battlefield. IV hydrogen peroxide floods your body with oxygen - an environment cancer cells cannot thrive in. DMSO carries the treatment deeper into your tissues. EDTA chelation removes the heavy metals that suppress your immune system and feed free radical damage. The ozone sauna detoxifies through your skin while stimulating your lymphatic system. You leave feeling lighter, cleaner, more energised.
At the concentrations we achieve through IV, Vitamin C stops being a supplement and becomes a selective pro-oxidant agent designed to support the body while addressing cancer at a cellular level. It generates hydrogen peroxide inside cancer cells - which lack the enzyme to neutralise it. Healthy cells are protected. Insulin potentiation ensures the Vitamin C floods into cancer cells preferentially. Hyperthermia amplifies the effect. If your protocol includes IV Methylene Blue, it is given on the same day to support your mitochondria - the energy factories inside every cell.
During the first 6–8 weeks, you receive a second round of targeted chemotherapy. This keeps the pressure on the cancer while your body is still strong enough to handle it well. Once Dr Pretorius sees your cancer responding - through blood work, tumour markers, and how you feel - this day is dropped. You move to three days per week for the remaining months.
Phase 1
4 days per week · 6–8 weeks
Intensive - hitting the cancer hard while you feel strong
Phase 2
3 days per week · 10–22 weeks
Maintenance - sustaining the pressure, monitoring your response
The average protocol is 16–20 weeks, but can extend to 30 weeks depending on your response. Every protocol is personalised - Dr Pretorius adjusts continuously based on your blood work, tumour markers, and how you are feeling.
The simple rule: if your oncologist has recommended chemotherapy, IPTLD can use the same drugs at a fraction of the dose. We only treat cancers where chemotherapy is a proven, standard part of treatment.
Listed from most chemo-responsive to least.
When standard treatment has failed: Even if your cancer has stopped responding to conventional chemotherapy or hormone therapy, chemo sensitivity testing can identify alternative agents that your specific cancer cells still respond to. This is particularly valuable for castration-resistant prostate cancer, platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, and any cancer where first-line treatment is no longer working.
After my IPTLD treatments, my tumour markers dropped significantly. I could continue working throughout my treatment - something I never thought possible with chemotherapy.
Maria K.
Stage 3 Breast Cancer, Centurion
The CTC testing gave us clarity about which treatment would work best. It removed the guesswork and gave us confidence in the protocol. My cancer responded well.
Susan M.
Stage 4 Ovarian Cancer
I was told there was nothing more they could do. Dr Pretorius offered IPTLD and within weeks my blood work started improving. I am grateful every day. (Individual results vary)
Pieter D.
Stage 4 Lung Cancer, Pretoria
No hair loss, no nausea, no days spent in bed. I went for treatment in the morning and was back at the office after lunch. IPTLD gave me my life back during cancer treatment. (Individual results vary)
Linda R.
Breast Cancer, Johannesburg
My oncologist was sceptical, but the results spoke for themselves. My PSA levels dropped consistently throughout the IPTLD protocol. Dr Pretorius is thorough and caring.
Johan V.
Prostate Cancer, Centurion
All treatments at CancerSA are private and not covered by medical aid or insurance. We provide a clear, upfront cost breakdown at your first consultation so there are no surprises. Many patients find that the total cost of IPTLD treatment is significantly less than conventional chemotherapy with its associated hospital admissions, emergency visits, and ongoing medication for side effects. We are happy to discuss pricing openly - just ask.
Treatment begins with an initial consultation where your medical history is reviewed in detail. A personalised plan is then developed based on your specific condition and goals.
Ongoing monitoring is carried out to assess response and adjust the approach as needed. Each patient's experience may differ depending on their overall health and treatment plan.
All treatments are provided within an integrative care framework and are tailored to the individual. They are not intended to replace necessary conventional medical care where required. Patients are encouraged to discuss all treatment options with their healthcare providers.
Individual results vary. The information on this website is for educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Our team will review your information and guide you on possible next steps based on your situation.
Questions about treatment?
WhatsApp Dr Pretorius directly - he personally responds to every message as soon as he can, during clinic hours only (Mon–Fri, 08:00–14:00).
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