AARP Bulletin - April 2010

Your Health ;

Relief from symptoms
“These aren’t alternative therapies,”
says Barrie R. Cassileth, chief of inte-
grative medicine at Memorial Sloan-
Kettering. “They don’t replace the very
powerful weapons mainstream medi-
cine has developed to fight cancer. But
they can help relieve the unwanted
side effects of treatment and improve
quality of life. And that’s very impor-
tant. In our department, we don’t treat
the tumor. We treat the patient.”
Some of the benefits of complemen-
tary approaches have surprised even
proponents. Acupuncture, for instance,
which uses needles painlessly inserted
into key points in the body, has been
shown to relieve nausea caused by che-
motherapy. For patients with head and
neck cancers whose salivary glands
are destroyed by radiation treatments,
acupuncture can restore some salivary
function. “That’s a huge benefit to peo-
ple with the disease,” says Cassileth.

cialists are cautious about claiming
too much for the therapies they offer.
“At the end of the day, we’re trying to
manage symptoms that are not being
effectively managed by conventional
treatments,” says Lorenzo Cohen,
M. D., director of the integrative medi-
cine program at M.D. Anderson Can-
cer Center in Houston.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of
NIH, is conducting research into a variety of therapies that might help cancer
patients. Studies are typically funded after clinical evidence suggests a treat-
ment shows promise. Currently under investigation:
Under the Microscope
; European mistle-
toe Already widely
used in Europe, this
plant is being tested in
conjunction with the
chemotherapy drug
gemcitabine in pa-
tients with pancreatic,
lung, colorectal and
breast cancer.
; Electroacupunc-
ture This therapy
shows promise as a
treatment for nausea
and vomiting caused
by chemotherapy.
; Yoga May be benefi-
cial as a treatment for
persistent fatigue in
breast cancer patients.
; Pancreatic enzyme
therapy Being tested
in patients with pan-
creatic cancer.

; Reiki/energy
healing This popular
therapy is being tested
in patients with pros-
tate cancer.
; Vegetable/herbal
supplements For
use in patients with
lung cancer.
; For more on
therapies being used,
go to bulletin.aarp.org.
Sorting through therapies
Not all unconventional therapies work,
and some may be downright dangerous.
“We worry—especially about the things
cancer patients put in their mouths,
such as herbal and dietary supple-
ments,” says Cassileth.
Some, including St. John’s
wort, which is used to ease
depression, interfere with
the liver’s ability to metabo-
lize medications. Others, such
as ginkgo, are anticoagulants that
can lead to uncontrolled bleeding in
patients undergoing surgery. That’s why
one key role integrative programs play is
warning patients away from things that
might harm them—no easy task given
the proliferation of unsubstantiated
claims on the Internet and the ready
availability of many supplements.
“We spend half of our time working
against quackery,” says Cassileth. “It’s
really a bad situation. What patients
see on the Internet is extremely seduc-
tive.” To counter the wave of unsub-
stantiated claims, both M.D. Anderson
and Memorial Sloan-Kettering main-