Alternative cancer treatments

A 2006 review of 196 clinical trials that studied unconventional cancer treatments found a lack of early-phase testing, little rationale for dosing regimens, and poor statistical analyses.

[13] The World Health Organization uses the phrase traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCIM) to describe a similar set of treatments.

The most popular alternative cancer therapies include restrictive diets, mind-body interventions, bioelectromagnetics, nutritional supplements, and herbs.

[14] For example, in Latin America, most cancer patients have used natural products, nutritional supplements, and spiritual practices (such as praying) in addition to, or instead of, medical care.

The study concluded that the patients had spent many thousands of pounds on such measures and that use "of practitioners of complementary therapies following diagnosis is a significant and possibly growing phenomenon".

[20] Use of unconventional cancer treatments in the United States has been influenced by[citation needed] the U.S. federal government's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), initially known as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), which was established in 1992 as a National Institutes of Health (NIH) adjunct by the U.S. Congress.

[citation needed] Over thirty American medical schools have offered general courses in alternative medicine, including the Georgetown, Columbia, and Harvard university systems, among others.

[12] People who are drawn to alternative treatments tend to believe that evidence-based medicine is extremely invasive or ineffective, while still hoping that their own health could be improved.

"[22] Con artists have long exploited patients' perceived lack of options to extract payments for ineffectual and even harmful treatments.

[23] In 2017, one retrospective, observational study suggested that people who chose alternative medicine instead of conventional treatments were more than twice as likely to die within five years of diagnosis.

[10] Although they are more likely to die than non-users, some users of alternative treatments feel a greater sense of control over their destinies and report less anxiety and depression.

[24] They are more likely to engage in benefit finding, which is the psychological process of adapting to a traumatic situation and deciding that the trauma was valuable, usually because of perceived personal and spiritual growth during the crisis.

[25] In a survey of American cancer patients, baby boomers were more likely to support complementary and alternative treatments than people from an older generation.

[26] White, female, college-educated patients who had been diagnosed more than a year ago were more likely than others to report a favorable impression of at least some complementary and alternative benefits.

[31][32] In 2008, the United States Federal Trade Commission acted against some companies that made unsupported claims that their products, some of which included highly toxic chemicals, could cure cancer.

[33] Most studies of complementary and alternative medicine in the treatment of cancer pain are of low quality in terms of scientific evidence.

The evidence for music therapy is equivocal, and some herbal interventions such as PC-SPES, mistletoe, and saw palmetto are known to be toxic to some cancer patients.

This belief that generally boosting the immune system's activity will kill the cancer cells is not supported by any scientific research.