Potential interactions of complementary and alternative medicine with cancer therapy in outpatients with gynecological cancer in a comprehensive cancer center

@article{Zeller2013PotentialIO,
  title={Potential interactions of complementary and alternative medicine with cancer therapy in outpatients with gynecological cancer in a comprehensive cancer center},
  author={T. Zeller and Karsten Muenstedt and Christoph Stoll and Janine Schweder and Bianca Senf and Eugen Ruckhaeberle and Sven Becker and Hubert Serve and Jutta Huebner},
  journal={Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology},
  year={2013},
  volume={139},
  pages={357-365},
  url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:29598970}
}
The frequency of CAM use and the likelihood of interactions of CAM with cancer therapy in the setting of a gynecological outpatient clinic at a German Comprehensive Cancer Center is found, the first study publishing data on the frequency of potential interactions.

Potential Interactions of Biologically Based Complementary Medicine in Gynecological Oncology

The authors' data demonstrated high overall use of BB-CAMs by cancer patients undergoing systemic therapy, and showed only 1 clinically relevant CDI, where the interaction was based on a self-medicated combination of Echinacea and cyclophosphamide.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients in routine care and the risk of interactions

There was a risk of interactions between a biological CAM method and conventional drugs in 54.9% of the patients using CAM, and a better training for doctors with respect to CAM is strongly needed.

Patients with advanced cancer and their usage of complementary and alternative medicine

Also for patients in palliative care and their relatives, CAM is important, and physicians should ensure safe administration of complementary methods by including CAM in their communication with the patient and the family.

The Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Thai Gynecologic Oncology Patients: Influencing Factors

Factors influencing CAM use in gynecologic cancer patients were rural area birthplace or residency, receiving multiple modalities of cancer treatment, having positive attitude toward CAM use, and quality-of-life scores.

Use of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with cancer: a cross-sectional study at different points of cancer care

Evaluating the prevalence and predictors for the use of CAM by cancer patients while being under active treatment with chemo- or radiotherapy or in aftercare concluded that physicians should actively address patients’ needs of involvement not only in decision making, but also actively in the therapy.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) supplements in cancer outpatients: analyses of usage and of interaction risks with cancer treatment

A wide range of different CAM supplement interactions were reviewed: effects of antioxidants, cytochrome interactions, and specific agonistic or antagonistic effects with cancer treatment seem to be underestimated.

Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Cancer Patients: A Prospective Questionnaire-Based Study in an Oncological Outpatient Clinic

The findings of this monocentric study in an outpatient setting do not support the relatively high percentage of CAM users described in the current literature, and CAM needs to be defined more clearly, in order to increase the patients' awareness of CAM.

Risk of interactions between complementary and alternative medicine and medication for comorbidities in patients with melanoma

Assessment of prevalence of interactions between CAM and drugs for comorbidities from a large CAM usage survey on melanoma patients and to classify herb–drug interactions with regard to their potential to harm found almost all patients using Chinese herbs were at risk.

Complementary medicine use during cancer treatment and potential herb-drug interactions from a cross-sectional study in an academic centre

Considering the high prevalence of CM use and the potential for interactions with cancer treatments in an academic oncology centre, active enquiries should be made by healthcare professionals to detect symptoms that may relate to CM tolerance and effects or suggest interactions between CM and cancer treatments.

Interactions from complementary and alternative medicine in patients with melanoma

To protect melanoma patients from potential harm by the combination of their cancer treatment and CAM usage, patients should be encouraged to report their CAM use, while oncologists should be trained on evidence of CAM, and patient guidance for saver CAM use.
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Complementary/alternative medicine use in a comprehensive cancer center and the implications for oncology.

In most categories, CAM use was common among outpatients and given the number of patients combining vitamins and herbs with conventional treatments, the oncology community must improve patient-provider communication, offer reliable information to patients, and initiate research to determine possible drug-herb-vitamin interactions.

Complementary and alternative medicine use in patients with gynecological cancers in Europe

Assessment of the use of complementary and alternative medicine specifically in women with gynecological cancer found that patients used CAM to increase the body's ability to fight the cancer or to improve physical and emotional well-being.

Complementary and alternative medicine use in breast cancer patients in Europe

Findings suggested that a high proportion of breast cancer patients used CAM, which may have implications for the clinical management of these patients.

Complementary and alternative medicine use by women after completion of allopathic treatment for breast cancer.

Two-thirds of women in this study followed conventional treatment for breast cancer with one or more CAM therapies, which, they believed, could prevent cancer recurrence and/or improve their quality of life.

COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE USE BY WOMEN AFTER COMPLETION OF ALLOPATICE TREATMENT FOR BREAST CANCER

Two-thirds of women in this study followed conventional treatment for breast cancer with one or more CAM therapies, which, they believed, could prevent cancer recurrence and/or improve their quality of life.

Complementary and alternative medicine use by patients enrolled onto phase I clinical trials.

CAM use is common among patients in phase I trials and should be ascertained by investigators, because some of the agents used may interact with investigational agents and affect adverse effects and/or efficacy.

Use of complementary medicine by adult patients participating in cancer clinical trials.

Patients with cancer use various complementary therapies to cope with their disease and the rigors of clinical trials and patients unanimously believed that these complementary therapies helped to improve their quality of life through more effective coping with stress, decreasing the discomforts of treatment and illness, and giving them a sense of control.

How Many Cancer Patients Use Complementary and Alternative Medicine

The overall prevalence of CAM use found was lower than often claimed, however, there was some evidence that the use has increased considerably over the past years and the health care systems ought to implement clear strategies of how to deal with this.

Use of complementary medicine by adult patients participating in HIV/AIDS clinical trials.

Patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS participating in clinical research protocols at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Cancer institute at the NIH used a variety of CAM therapies to cope with their diseases and rigors of treatment and clinical trials.