Alternative cures for cancer lure people and may cause more harm than good: Study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 12 2011

According to doctors thousands of cancer patients are turning to alternative treatments that could harm them and ultimately claim their lives. There have been cases of alternative practitioners who have tricked vulnerable patients into fraudulent cancer therapies. This fails to deter most people shows a new study.

The study shows that more than 50 per cent of male cancer patients are using “complementary and alternative medicines” while receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

Although these could include harmless and arguably beneficial therapies such as meditation and yoga, doctors are worried about the many costly and unproven products being sold for hundreds of dollars. According to head of Cancer Council Australia Ian Olver, some of these could be poisonous in their own right, interact negatively with a conventional treatment or steer people away from legitimate treatments that would have controlled or eliminated their cancer.

Professor Olver said a recent survey of 403 men receiving cancer treatment in Australian hospitals found 62 per cent had used complementary and alternative medicines, with 53 per cent still using them with their medical treatment.

The study, which he worked on with Nadja Klafke from the University of Adelaide, also found that only 10 per cent were referred by their specialists to use the therapies, with the others finding them on the internet or through other means. “We need to educate the public…They need to be able to ask what the evidence base is and talk to their doctors about it,” Professor Olver said.

Melbourne oncologist Ranjana Srivastava said the most predatory alternative practitioners appeared to be on the rise with sophisticated websites and new tactics to convince patients of their credibility. She said some practitioners sent patients to her for tests or had asked to see scans so they could use them for their own purposes. “I have seen these tests being interpreted in ways where the alternative therapist is saying to a patient: ‘This test suggests you have X, Y or Z and that means you need this herbal potion’,” she said.

Tasmanian oncologist Ray Lowenthal added that although some vitamins had turned out to be effective cancer treatments after rigorous testing, people should be wary of taking too many because there was increasing evidence large doses could help cancer grow. “The sad thing is many people go off and do these things before they've tried conventional treatments and they may not realize how many different cancers and treatments there are,” he said.

The biographer of Steve Jobs recently revealed that the Apple founder had died regretting that he spent nine months trying to treat his cancer with alternative medicine before agreeing to chemotherapy and surgery.

The study was published in the peer reviewed journal, Annals of Oncology.