“What can I do to support my cancer treatment or reduce side effects?” This is a question almost all cancer patients ask themselves. This is why half of all affected people use complementary or alternative medical substances, methods and procedures. This usually happens without the knowledge of their doctors. They have not received systematic complementary medicine training in Germany, do not understand the actual benefits and risks of these measures, and do not have a profession tailored to their individual disease conditions. And oncology advises knowledgeable people questions.
Traditional medicine has taken a long time to deal with this situation and in the form of clear guidelines S3 Complementary Medicine Guidelines for Oncology reaction. It appeared a few days ago. The guide contains 155 recommendations and statements and is published in a long version of 630 pages. A patient version is underway and may appear in the fall. 72 experts from 46 professional societies and organizations participated in the formulation.Work by Yuta Shubner, Professor of General Oncology at Jena University Hospital.Money is from German Cancer Aid Pass the oncology guidelines program. The stated purpose of the guidelines is to provide reference work for all doctors and professional groups involved in the treatment of cancer patients so that they can recommend useful and evidence-based supplementary medical measures to cancer patients and warn cancer patients of harmful or suspicious proposals. . Patients should no longer seek reliable information on their own.
To this end, the guidelines committee evaluated the most important supplementary and alternative medical methods, procedures and substances currently used in Germany or provided to cancer patients by different suppliers according to the standards of evidence-based medicine, and compiled them in the removal table. Some are classified by symptoms. There, you will find information about which measures should or can be recommended for certain symptoms, which measures should not be recommended, which data are insufficient, and which tumor patients and conditions in the course of the disease the recommendations apply to. In the case of nausea and vomiting, for example, ginger and acupoint massage can be recommended according to the table, bioenergy field therapy should not be recommended, and there is not enough data on the effect of yoga to make a recommendation.
Guide creation basics
The guide contains tables about research situations, so it includes scientific evidence from more than 33 medical systems such as acupuncture and homeopathy, as well as procedures such as meditation and Tai Chi. It also lists measures such as reflexology and exercise, as well as individual biological therapies such as taking vitamin D, zinc or mistletoe preparations. The guide also clearly pointed out that many measures have almost no scientific data. In addition, many published studies have only a few participants and no control group, so it is impossible to assess the difference between using and not using complementary therapies. The guidelines committee also saw a major shortcoming, namely, poor knowledge of the potential interactions and side effects of complementary and alternative medicine therapies. Therefore, it called for more research in this area.
