Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and cancer: The kind face of complementary medicine

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Abstract
Precise figures vary, but most experts agree: a large proportion of cancer patients use some form of CAM,1 x 1 Ernst, E. and Cassileth, B.R. The prevalence of complementary/alternative medicine in cancer: a systematic review. Cancer. 1998; 83: 777–782 Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (706) | Google Scholar See all References and many fail to share this fact with their oncology treatment team.2 x 2 Corner, J., Yardley, J., Maher, E.J., Roffe, L., Young, T., Maslin-Prothero, S. et al. Patterns of complementary and alternative medicine use among patients undergoing cancer treatment. Eur J Cancer Care. 2009; 18: 271–279 Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (40) | Google Scholar See all References Thus patients look for information themselves and find data which are frequently misleading.3 x 3 Gratus, C., Wilson, S., Greenfield, S.M., Damery, S.L., Warmington, S.A., Grieve, R. et al. The use of herbal medicine by people with cancer: a qualitative study. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2009; 9: 14 Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (40) | Google Scholar See all References , 4 x 4 Schmidt, K. and Ernst, E. Assessing websites on complementary and alternative medicine for cancer. Ann Oncol. 2004; 15: 733–742 Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (116) | Google Scholar See all References They are therefore at risk of using ineffective or harmful treatments,5 x 5 Davis, G.E., Bryson, C.L., Yueh, B., McDonnell, M.B., Micek, M.A., and Fihn, S.D. Treatment delay associated with alternative medicine use among veterans with head and neck cancer. Head Neck. 2006; 28: 926–931 Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (24) | Google Scholar See all References and consequently outcomes may suffer.6 x 6 Chang, E.Y., Glissmeyer, M., Tonnes, S., Hudson, T., and Johnson, N. Outcomes of breast cancer in patients who use alternative therapies as primary treatment. Am J Surg. 2006; 192: 471–473 Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (26) | Google Scholar See all References Many oncologists are thus rightly concerned about “alternative” medicine. But the issue of CAM and cancer is complex and fortunately not all negative.