The Disease Which Eats One's Life While He is Alive - Cancer
Alternative cancer treatments describe alternative and complementary treatments for cancer that have not been approved by the government agencies responsible for the regulation of therapeutic goods. They include diet and exercise, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. One can have many choices to make about a cancer treatment.
• One choice might be thinking about is complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is the term for medical products and practices that are not part of standard care.
• CAM treatments do not work for everyone, but some methods such as acupuncture might help with nausea, pain and other side effects of cancer treatment. In general, researchers know more about the safety and effectiveness of standard cancer treatments than they do about CAM.
Current cancer treatments are as follows:
• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Hormone therapy
• Immunotherapy
• CAM treatments do not work for everyone, but some methods such as acupuncture might help with nausea, pain and other side effects of cancer treatment. In general, researchers know more about the safety and effectiveness of standard cancer treatments than they do about CAM.
Current cancer treatments are as follows:
• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Hormone therapy
• Immunotherapy
Surgery is the oldest and most widely used treatment available for cancer patients. About 60 percent of people diagnosed with cancer will undergo surgery. In radiation therapy, the specific part of the body containing a cancerous growth is exposed to radiation energy to attack reproducing cancer cells. However, the radiation cannot affect the cancer cells without affecting normal cells, which can lead to several unpleasant side effects. Chemotherapy, the treatment of cancer through drugs, is an effective treatment method for fighting cancerous cells that have spread to other parts of the body. Hormone therapy involves anything that deals with manipulating the body's hormones to treat the cancer. Immunotherapy also manipulates the body's normal functions. During immunotherapy, patients are given medication to stimulate the body's immune system to fight cancerous cells. Alternative cancer treatments are typically contrasted with experimental cancer treatments, which are treatments for which experimental testing is currently underway.
Cancer treatment therapies can be categorized broadly into three groups:
• alternative treatments offered as a substitute to standard medical treatment,
• alternative treatments as an addition to standard treatment,
• Treatments proposed in the past that have been found in clinical trials to be useless and/or unsafe.
With modern mainstream treatments, only 34% of cancer patients die within five years. However, while generally prolonging life or permanently curing cancer, most effective, mainstream forms of cancer treatment have side effects ranging from unpleasant to fatal, and permanent cures are not guaranteed. These side effects and the uncertainty of success create appeal for alternative treatments for cancer, which purport to cause fewer side effects or to increase survival rates.
Alternative cancer treatments have typically not undergone properly conducted, well-designed clinical trials, or the results have not been published due to publication bias (a refusal to publish results showing a treatment does not work). Among those that have been published, the methodology is often poor. A 2006 systematic review of 214 articles covering 198 clinical trials of alternative cancer treatments concluded that almost none conducted dose-ranging studies, which are necessary to ensure that the patients are being given an useful amount of the treatment.
Complementary and alternative cancer treatments are often grouped together, but this grouping is controversial. Definitions vary, but generally speaking, the same methods that are called "complementary" when given alongside mainstream treatments are "alternative" when they are not.
• alternative treatments offered as a substitute to standard medical treatment,
• alternative treatments as an addition to standard treatment,
• Treatments proposed in the past that have been found in clinical trials to be useless and/or unsafe.
With modern mainstream treatments, only 34% of cancer patients die within five years. However, while generally prolonging life or permanently curing cancer, most effective, mainstream forms of cancer treatment have side effects ranging from unpleasant to fatal, and permanent cures are not guaranteed. These side effects and the uncertainty of success create appeal for alternative treatments for cancer, which purport to cause fewer side effects or to increase survival rates.
Alternative cancer treatments have typically not undergone properly conducted, well-designed clinical trials, or the results have not been published due to publication bias (a refusal to publish results showing a treatment does not work). Among those that have been published, the methodology is often poor. A 2006 systematic review of 214 articles covering 198 clinical trials of alternative cancer treatments concluded that almost none conducted dose-ranging studies, which are necessary to ensure that the patients are being given an useful amount of the treatment.
Complementary and alternative cancer treatments are often grouped together, but this grouping is controversial. Definitions vary, but generally speaking, the same methods that are called "complementary" when given alongside mainstream treatments are "alternative" when they are not.
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