title: The future of complementary and alternative medicine for cancer.
abstract: This article explores why cancer patients use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), why CAM use should be of interest to physicians who treat cancer patients, and how physicians may appropriately support their patients' quest for comfort, quality of life, and healing. We use the term "CAM" to refer to substances and practices that have been available primarily outside of the American medical mainstream, that have sources other than medical doctors and allied health care providers, and that are not commonly recommended by medical doctors as treatments for a given condition. Alternative treatments are those used instead of conventional medicine; complementary treatments are those used in addition to conventional medicine.
authors.affiliation: The Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. fk11@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Fredi
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kronenberg
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mindes
authors.forename: Judith S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jacobson
mesh_terms: D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D011788:Quality of Life
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C114209:herbal preparation PC-SPES