Medicine and Cancer Care: A Western Medicine Perspective

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) may be integrated with conventional Western medicine to enhance the care of patients with cancer. Recent evidence confi rms a scientifi c basis for the use of acupuncture, herbs, diet and energy therapies. We suggest a holistic care plan based on the concepts of biological response modifi cation, enhancement of psycho-immunological function, better symptom control, and improvement of psycho-spiritual well-being. There is enough preliminary evidence to encourage good quality clinical trials to evaluate the effi cacy of integrating TCM into Western cancer care. Introduction Recent evidence suggests that many traditional Chinese medical therapies can be effective for the supportive care of cancer patients. This is a review of the published literature (indexed in Medline) and our own practical experience. It provides various levels of evidence that support further research into a developing model of integrative care. Most published studies are at evidence level III, in other words trials without randomization, single group pre-post, cohort, time series, or matched case-controlled studies. Levels I and II evidence from well designed randomized controlled trials of appropriate size is emphasized in the text of this review. In view of the paucity of quality data from levels I and II evidence, meta-analysis of the The Scientifi c Basis of Chinese Medicine and Cancer Care: A Western Medicine Perspective