What Is Integrative Oncology?
Since this blog is relatively new on the cyber scene, and many have just recently begun reading it, it’s probably time to review some basics. The purpose of the blog is to generate awareness and support for a new strategy for the war on cancer. This new strategy has integrative oncology as its core. So, let me go back and explain briefly just what integrative oncology is.
To understand integrative oncology, we have to realize that traditional cancer treatment in America for the last half-century has been limited to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. This conventional strategy of treatment continues to be very intrusive and harmful to the body, but it does have some degree of success against the disease. However, the overall mortality rate of cancer has changed very little in the last 50 years. Conventional treatment weakens the immune system at at time it is most needed to fight the cancer. Hence, although many cancer victims have survived because of conventional treatment, its overall effectiveness is certainly questionable.
Over the past decade, the evidenced-based, legitimate options that have grown out of alternative therapies have been developed by a few researchers and oncologists. These options include such therapies as nutrition, dietary supplements, acupuncture, stress management, spiritual and psychological counseling, physical exercise programs, massage, music therapy, anti-angiogenesis (constraining blood supply to tumors), hyperthermia, nanopartical implantation, chelation, and mind-body interface. These example and other integrative practices are natural, non-toxic, and proven effective. They are meant to be prescribed as a complement to, not a substitute for, conventional treatment. Integrative oncology combines certain of these practices with conventional therapies to increase conventional treatment effectiveness, reduce its negative side effects, and shorten its duration. Integrative therapies have the potential of significantly reducing our dependence on conventional treatment as they becomes more commonplace. They show promise of lowering cancer mortality rates and certainly extending the live of cancer victims.
Presently, there are relatively few trained and experienced integrative oncologists. Most of them have full patient loads and waiting lists. Yet, few people know about the options, and few oncologists are familiar enough with integrative therapies to even discuss them with their patients. Again, awareness and support of integrative oncology is the purpose of this blog, the http://cancerchoices.org website, the book I am writing, and the Connie Thompson Foundation.