“What can I do myself to support my cancer treatment or reduce side effects?” This is the question almost all tumor patients ask themselves. That is why half of all those affected use complementary or alternative medical substances, methods and procedures. This often happens without the knowledge of their doctors, who are not systematically trained in complementary medicine in Germany, as well as without knowledge of the actual benefits and risks of the measures and without a professional and oncological recommendation tailored to their individual disease situation Knowledgeable person questions.
It took conventional medicine a long time to respond to this situation with clear guidance in the form of an S3 guideline on complementary medicine in oncology. It appeared a few days ago. The guideline contains 155 recommendations and statements, which are rolled out in the long version on 630 pages. A patient version is in the works and will probably appear in the fall. 72 experts from 46 professional societies and organizations were involved in the formulation. The work was coordinated by Jutta Hübner, Professor of Integrative Oncology at Jena University Hospital. The money came from the German Cancer Aid through the oncology guideline program. The stated aim of the guideline is to provide all doctors and professional groups involved in the treatment of cancer patientsto provide a reference work so that they can recommend meaningful and evidence-based complementary medical measures to cancer patients and warn cancer patients of harmful or dubious offers. Patients too should no longer be left alone in their search for reliable information.
To this end, the guideline commission has evaluated the most important complementary and alternative medical methods, procedures and substances that are currently used in Germany or that are offered to cancer patients by various providers according to the criteria of evidence-based medicine and compiled them in clear tables. Some are categorized by symptoms. There you will find information on which measures should or can be recommended for certain symptoms, what should not be recommended and what there is insufficient data and for which tumor patients and situations in the course of the disease the recommendations apply. In the case of nausea and vomiting, ginger and acupressure, for example, can be recommended according to the table, bioenergy field therapy should not be recommended,and there is not enough data to make a recommendation on the effects of yoga.
Guideline creates basic knowledge
The guideline contains tables on the study situation and thus on the scientific evidence of more than 33 medical systems such as acupuncture and homeopathy as well as procedures such as meditation and tai chi. Measures such as reflex therapy and sport and individual biological therapies such as taking vitamin D, zinc or mistletoe preparations are also listed. The guideline also makes it clear that there is hardly any scientific data for many measures. In addition, many published studies had only a few participants and no comparison groups, so that the difference between using and not using complementary therapy cannot be assessed. The guideline commission also sees a major shortcoming inthat so far little is known about the potential interactions and side effects of complementary and alternative medical therapies. It therefore calls for more research in this area.