List of unproven and disproven cancer treatments

This is a non-exhaustive list of alternative treatments that have been promoted to treat or prevent cancer in humans but which lack scientific and medical evidence of effectiveness.

In many cases, there is scientific evidence that the alleged treatments are not effective, and in some cases, may even be harmful.

Unlike accepted cancer treatments, treatments lacking in evidence of efficacy are generally ignored or avoided by the medical community and are often pseudoscientific.

[1] Many alternative cancer treatments are considered disproven because they have been investigated with clinical trials and have been shown to be ineffective.

[2]

Homeopathic medicine bottle and box, marked 'RHUS TOX'
Homeopathic remedies; ineffective for treating cancer
An orgone accumulator – a subject sitting in one is meant to experience the effects of orgone , an energy force proposed by Wilhelm Reich .
human teeth filled with shiny dental amalgam
In Issels treatment all metal fillings are removed from the teeth.
A cayenne pepper – products based on peppers are promoted as cancer treatments.
Ginger – promoted for halting tumor growth; evidence is lacking. An unpeeled ginger root beside a knife.
Purple-colored Concord grapes on the vine with abundant foliage
Grapes – there is very little evidence that eating them can help prevent or treat cancer.
Kombucha – a fermented tea promoted as a "cure all"
Mistletoe growing on a tree, showing white berries in medium close-up
Mistletoe – Anthroposophical medicine holds that harvesting it when the planets are aligned will yield a cancer treatment.
soursop fruit, whole and in section. It is green with scales has white flesh and black seeds.
Soursop – an ineffective treatment heavily promoted on the internet
Venus flytrap plant
Venus flytrap – its extract is promoted as a cure for skin cancer.
A rectal bulb syringe – enemas feature in a number of ineffective cancer treatments such as Gerson therapy and colon cleansing .
Old ink oriental drawing of a man performing qigong, kneeling cross-legged with an arm extended in the air
Qigong – a kind of meditation accompanied by gentle movements
A shark swimming underwater in a bright blue sea
Shark cartilage might be thought of as a cancer treatment because of a mistaken belief that sharks do not get cancer.
An emu's head and neck
Oil extracted from the fat tissue of the emu has been fraudulently marketed as a cancer treatment
Hyperbaric chamber
sample of human urine in plastic vessel with white screw-top
In urine therapy patients attempt to treat cancer by drinking their own urine.