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Integrating Chinese and Western Medicine in Cancer Treatment

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Supportive Cancer Care with Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Cancer causes significant physical, psychological and spiritual distress in affected patients, and neither traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) nor Western medicine offers a fully effective and comprehensive treatment approach. While Western medicine provides potentially curative modalities such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, these therapies are both invasive and dangerous and can lead to significant side effects. Traditional Chinese medicine modalities tend to be gentler and less toxic yet they are less likely to effectively treat advanced cancers or sequelae of obstructive tumours. Both Western medicine and TCM, although diverse in philosophy and methods, have much to offer the cancer patient. Traditional Chinese medicine can be used to maximize the body’s ability to fight cancer, to prepare the body for the assaults of allopathic treatments and to treat resulting side effects as they occur. It can enhance recovery time, improve quality of life, and perhaps even improve prognosis and decrease the risk of recurrence. Risks of integrating Chinese medicine with Western medicine include herb–drug interactions, pursuing supportive treatment in lieu of available curative therapies and a possible decrease in effectiveness of chemotherapy or radiation when combined with Chinese herbs. Neither the allopathic approach nor the TCM approach is sufficient to maximally treat patients with cancer. An integrative treatment plan that harnesses the strengths of each is the most prudent path.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Delia Chiaramonte & Lixing Lao

Authors
  1. Delia Chiaramonte
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  2. Lixing Lao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Delia Chiaramonte .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Clinical Oncology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gascoigne Road 30, Kowloon, Hong Kong/PR China

    William C.S. Cho

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Chiaramonte, D., Lao, L. (2010). Integrating Chinese and Western Medicine in Cancer Treatment. In: Cho, W. (eds) Supportive Cancer Care with Chinese Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3555-4_13

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