C
Cancer therapies
Description
Numerous therapies claiming to treat or even to cure cancer have been developed over the years by individuals and organizations, many before the advent of modern chemotherapy. These therapies and interventions are still in demand, largely in response to people’s disenchantment with orthodox medicine, although few have been shown to be effective or safe in clinical trials. It is, however, important for conventional healthcare professionals to appreciate that cancer patients may resort to alternatives, usually as an adjunct, but unfortunately, sometimes as a replacement for orthodox medical treatment and occasionally, as a desperate last resort when conventional medicine can do no more.
Safety:
While there are specific safety concerns related to some of the alternative cancer treatments, the over-riding general concern is that patients risk delay in obtaining proven orthodox medical treatments, for which, while they can be extremely unpleasant, there may be a chance of a reasonable prognosis. Alternatively, concurrent use of some of the alternatives with orthodox medical treatment may either produce interactions, for example between herbal remedies and prescribed pharmacological preparations or produce apparent side-effects, in the form of a healing crisis response to therapies such as homeopathic remedies, which may complicate the overall clinical picture. Nurses should ask cancer patients about their use of any alternatives, including specialist diets and consider how their choices may impact on their overall well-being. It should be remembered that, in the UK, it is against the law to claim to ‘cure’ cancer – and those labelled as such, at the very least, risk giving patients unrealistic expectations of their chances of full recovery.
