Integrative Medicine and Cancer

I want to share a link to a program from Yale Cancer Answers. I've shared some before. Yale Cancer Answers is a local radio program that gets put up online after it has been broadcast, and it focuses on a different cancer-related topic every week. It's sponsored by Yale University's cancer hospital, and features a cancer expert who works at Yale in some capacity.

A lot of times, the topics are very specific -- too specific for me to be very interested in. But sometimes they are more general, and interesting for any cancer patient or caregiver.

The show from a couple of weeks ago had one of those more general topics -- Integrative Medicine.

The episode can be found here, if you want to listen to it, and here if you want to just read the transcript.

The Yale expert being interviewed is Dr. Gary Soffer, who is Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, but who also spends some time with patients practicing Integrative Medicine, especially cancer patients.

So what is Integrative Medicine? It's also sometimes called Complimentary Medicine, and includes things like yoga, massage, supplements, acupuncture,  and meditation.

More importantly, I want to stress from the start what it s NOT -- it is NOT "alternative medicine." There's a really important difference between the two. Alternative medicine might include some of the practices that I list above, but are considered an alternative or replacement to traditional cancer therapy. You're relying on supplements and meditation to cure or control cancer. I think it's a huge mistake, and a Yale study (mentioned in this Yale Cancer Answers episode) shows that patients who use alternative medicine tend to die sooner that those who use Integrative or Complimentary medicine.

Integrative or Complimentary Medicine, on the other hand, is used with traditional cancer treatments (like chemotherapy or immunotherapy). It is integrated into a treatment plan, or used to compliment traditional treatments, rather than act as an alternative to them. Yoga might help with pain management, or supplements might help with some side effects, or meditation might help with emotional health. But they are used with traditional treatments, not instead of them.

I'm all for Integrative Medicine because it does not interfere with conventional therapies, and because, when done properly, it is evidence-based -- research that uses a rigorous scientific method, like a clinical trial (and not based on stories of individual patients), and whose results have been reported widely in peer-reviewed journals (and not just on the website of a treatment center). If someone mentions a treatment option that seems to good to be true, and it's accompanied by "It works! They've done studies!" then I want to know who "they" were and where exactly I can see those studies. Otherwise, I'll stick with what I read in medical journals.

I found a lot of what Dr. Soffer had to say to be pretty interesting. He thinks there is a lot more Integrative Medicine happening than patients let on. Patients might be too embarrassed to tell their doctor about, say, a supplement they might be taking. A lot of times, the doctor's response is to say, "I don't now anything about that, so stop taking it." But an Integrative Medicine program like Dr. Soffer's allows the patient to speak with someone who is open to hearing about what they are trying, and who can offer evidence-based advice. Sometimes, a yoga class might be perfect, but other times, it might take a physical toll on the body that wouldn't be good. Sometimes a supplement might be a great idea, but other times, it might actually interfere with the chemo being given.

The important thing is, the Integrative practice is being shared with someone who has some expertise, who can give some advice about the good and bad that comes with the practice.

And, again, let me stress -- these are practices that work with traditional treatments, not in place of them.

It's an interesting show. Give it a listen, or read (or translate) the transcript.