Complementary and Alternative Medicines (Cam) Use among Cancer Patients: An Overview and the Decision Making

Abstract

Caner is a leading cause of death worldwide which requires a multidisciplinary treatment approach. Safety and efficacy of many of the modern therapies have been well established but still use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) are on rise among cancer patients. CAM decision making process is complex which is affected by many social and disease related variables. Prevalence based studies regarding CAM use reported a wide range of variation in percentage use of CAM among cancer patients which could be due to the way different studies defined CAM in their studies. Understanding CAM use decision making is crucial as it is highly individualized and revolves around several issues which can benefit patients and their care givers in treatment success.