Kanker en CAM: overzicht 2007

In het tijdschrift Supportive Care in Cancer is het augustus 2007 nummer (Volume 15, Number 8 / August, 2007) geheel gewijd aan complementaire behandelingen van kanker, hun waarde en beperkingen. Enkele van die artikelen zijn het waard om te noemen.

Het tijdschrift bevatte ruim 10 artikelen over Cam en kanker. [1] [2] [3] [4]

1. A non-randomized comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and healing arts programs for facilitating post-traumatic growth and spirituality in cancer outpatients: in dit onderzoek worden twee programma’s besproken: kunst en meditatie. De meetmethode was voor en na de cursussen bij kanker patienten.

De aspecten die gemeten werden waren:

measures of post-traumatic growth (PTGI-R),

spirituality (FACIT-Sp),

stress (SOSI), en

mood disturbance (POMS).

De resultaten werden al dus verwoord:

This study is one of few to have looked at the positive outcomes of psychosocial interventions for cancer patients on measures of PTG and spirituality, in addition to measures of overt symptoms. Two different interventions, each designed to enhance the ability of cancer patients to live well during and after diagnosis and treatment were investigated: healing arts and mindfulness-based stress reduction. Most encouraging are the results indicating that both interventions were helpful across a number of dimensions, including several aspects of PTG (relating to others, discovering new possibilities, and recognizing personal strengths).  En:

Both programs may improve facilitation of positive growth after traumatic life experiences for those who choose to participate. MBSR may be more helpful than HA in enhancing spirituality and reducing stress, depression, and anger. 

2. Acupuncture in palliative care.

Een enquete werd gehouden onder enkele honderden patienten in een 3de lijns ziekenhuis, gespecialiseerd in kankerzorg. Het merendeel van de patienten wist wat acupunctuur was en kon de werking en de theorie goed beschrijven. 80% van alle patienten waren in principe geinteresseerd om een acupuncturist aan het bed te ontvangen:

At least half of this patient population could sufficiently describe the background, general mechanism of, or types of symptoms for which acupuncture has been used. Thus, if patients are eventually offered acupuncture in the palliative care unit, they appear to have some accurate preliminary knowledge of this treatment modality. Although acupuncture is a commonly used or sought after treatment in Western society by those with and without cancer, a moderately small percentage of patents in our study had previously used acupuncture for either noncancer or cancer conditions. The latter may be explained by the fact that conventional approaches, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery are considered first line treatment depending on the cancer pathology. However, many patients who had received acupuncture reported moderate to high symptom relief on average.

At the same time, the majority (80%) of the surveyed patients expressed an interest in receiving acupuncture if an acupuncture practitioner was available.