Background: Cancer patients are increasingly seeking out complementary and alternative medicine (
CAM) and might be reluctant to disclose its use to their oncology treatment team. Often,
CAM agents are not well studied, and little is known about their potential interactions with
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Background: Cancer patients are increasingly seeking out complementary and alternative medicine (
CAM) and might be reluctant to disclose its use to their oncology treatment team. Often,
CAM agents are not well studied, and little is known about their potential interactions with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or biologic therapies, and their correlations with outcomes. In the present study, we set out to determine the rate of
CAM use in patients receiving treatment at a Northern Ontario cancer centre.
Methods: Patients reporting for treatment at the Northeast Cancer Centre (
NECC) in Sudbury, Ontario, were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire to assess
CAM use. Changes in
CAM use before, compared with after, diagnosis were also assessed.
Results: Patients in Northern Ontario reported significant
CAM use both before and after diagnosis. However, as a function of the
CAM type,
CAM use was greatly enhanced after cancer diagnosis. For example, the number of patients who reported use of biologic products increased to 51.8% after a cancer diagnosis from 15.6% before a cancer diagnosis. Patients reported much smaller changes in the use of alternative medical systems or spiritual therapy after diagnosis. Vitamin use was reported by 66% of respondents, and the number of different
CAMS used correlated significantly with the reported number of vitamins used.
Conclusions: Use of
CAM, particularly biologic products, increased significantly after a cancer diagnosis. Further studies are required to examine the effect of
CAM use on the efficacy and safety of cancer therapies.
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