Complementary therapies in the health care system Essay

Complementary therapies in the health care system - Essay Example [3] According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), CAM is defined as "a group of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine". [4] Complementary medicine suggests treatments in conjunction with Western medicine, for example, aromatherapy can be used to lessen patients discomfort after surgery, and eucalyptus can complement antihistamines for allergic rhinitis. Alternative therapies suggest replacements for western medicine, for example, when a special diet is used for cancer patients instead of chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. [2] Integrative medicine combines conventional Western medical therapies and CAM, for which there is some high-quality substantiated evidence for safety and efficacy. A very popular form of integrative medicine is seen in immune enhancement products, such as vitamins A, B6, C, zinc, Echinacea, and eucalyptus oil. [2] Cassileth (2001) initially observed that only 8% to 10% of patients with biopsy-diagnosed malignancy use alternative treatments. [6] However, the growth in the nutritional supplement industry indicates that there is a significant rise in the use of complementary/integrative nutritional therapies (CINTs) for disease treatment as well as for prevention in general. [7]CINTs are being sought by 30% to 80%of cancer patients during cancer treatment and for prevention. The most frequent users are those with breast cancer (80% to 85%)[8][9],pediatric cancers(46%)[10],prostatic cancer(27% to 43%)[11][12],and head and neck cancer(25%)[13]. A study reported by Kao and Devine (2000) observed that 37% of prostate cancer patients were using complementary nutritional modalities concurrently with radiation treatment. These ongoing studies indicate that complementary medicine use is much more prevalent among cancer patients than has been previously believed. Although patients,