Patient Initiation of Complementary and Alternative Medical Therapies (CAM) Following Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

About one-half of adult cancer patients initiate complementary and alternative medicine therapy after diagnosis and during or after conventional oncologic treatments. Healthcare providers should be aware of patients' reasons for complementary and alternative medicine use, both for symptom management and quality-of-life. Healthcare providers should also be familiar with patients' complementary and alternative medicine information sources and should supplement these sources with discussions of pertinent safety profiles and potential interactions with standard therapies.