Obtaining Credible Information About Alternative Cancer Therapies
The August edition of Cancer Monthly’s free e-newsletter CancerWire focuses on what every cancer patient should know in order to obtain credible information about alternative cancer therapies.
(PRWEB) August 20, 2005 -- When it comes to alternative therapies for cancer,
the internet is a “mixed bag” filled with exaggerated claims, unreliable
anecdotes, and some very credible reports. For the patient who has little time
and who needs credible information now, sorting through this is a challenge.
There is, however, one resource that is arguably better than many
others. Medline is the National Library of Medicine’s bibliographic database
covering the fields of medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the
health care system, and the preclinical sciences. Medline contains over 12
million citations and abstracts (summaries of research articles) from more than
4,800 biomedical journals published in the United States and 70 other countries.
Medline is accessible on the internet via PubMed, which was developed by the
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Simply type www.pubmed.gov in the browser.
Through Medline one can see what has been published about alternative cancer
therapies by scientists and researchers. For anyone trying to make an informed
treatment decision, these studies are worth browsing.
For example,
certain herbs have been used throughout history for the treatment of various
cancers. Because natural substances are difficult to patent, drug companies will
not invest money to research and develop these substances. Nonetheless, a
handful of studies can be found for almost any herb, vitamin or other substance.
Although these studies are obviously not the final word, they do provide clues
about the potential efficacy of these agents in cancer. While most of these
studies are pre-clinical (in test-tubes, animal models), some are clinical (in
patients). Faced with the hyperbole on the internet and the skepticism of most
orthodox doctors, these studies can also be used to facilitate objective
discussions with one's physician.
There are three steps to accessing
this information:
Step 1) Go to Medline www.pubmed.gov
Step 2) Run a search by placing terms
like the name of the herb or vitamin and cancer. For example, “red clover and
breast cancer” or “vitamin c and prostate cancer” or “carrots and lung cancer.”
If nothing appears, try the Latin name.
Step 3) Understand what is being
read. While it is advantageous to read the entire article (often available in a
local medical library), abstracts of the article are a good place to begin. And
while, there are many considerations in assessing an article’s reliability (i.e.
journal, authors, conflicts of interest, size of study, etc.) for the purpose of
getting started, one can begin by focusing on three key pieces of
information:
1. What substance was tested? It is
important to know what was actually tested. For example, some studies do not use
entire natural product, but only employ one or more chemical components that are
isolated or synthesized. A problem with this approach is that all the different
components may have a synergistic effect and administering one ingredient may
not be a fair test of what the agent can really do in patients.
2. Where was it tested? There are many ways a test can
be performed. For example, preclinical testing can be performed in cancer cell
cultures (in vitro) which are cultures of cancer cells taken from a patient. Or,
it can be performed in a cell line (a cancer cell culture that has been grown
and used for years or decades). Or, it can be performed in animals (with animal
cancers or human cancers). Or, the test can be performed clinically by
administering the agent to actual cancer patients. Of course, the last one would
be the most accurate representation of whether the agent works in people.
3. What was the outcome? Here, it is critical to
understand what happened. Key terms to look for include apoptosis (this means
the cancer cells committed cell suicide) anti-proliferation, and growth
inhibition.
To see examples and read the rest of the article go to www.cancermonthly.com
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Of course, none of this
information in CancerWire is a substitute for professional medical advice,
examination, diagnosis or treatment and you should always seek the advice of
your physician or other qualified health professional before starting any new
treatment or making any changes to an existing treatment. No information
contained in Cancer Monthly or CancerWire including the information above,
should be used to diagnose, treat cure or prevent any disease without the
supervision of a medical doctor.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb274518.htm