%0 Journal Article
%T Integrative and complementary therapies for patients with advanced cancer
%A Lucille Marchand
%J SCIE-indexed Journal
%D 2014
%X One in four deaths is due to cancer, and the lifetime probability of developing cancer is 45% for men and 38% for women. Lung, prostate, breast and colorectal cancers account for 48% of cancers. Palliative care is especially needed in the care of these patients (1). Palliative care, combined with integrative holistic medicine and conventional cancer care, can create a very effective approach to treating the whole person with cancer. This integration of care modalities addresses all appropriate treatments of the cancer, alleviating the challenging symptoms of cancer and its treatment, as well as helping patients thrive rather than merely survive their cancer journey. In integrative medicine, well-being is emphasized, and in palliative care, quality of life (QOL) is a similar concept or goal. Both can occur despite advanced cancer. Integrative medicine serves to combine the best of alternative, complementary and conventional therapies to optimize well-being and QOL, whether or not a person is at the end of life. When integrative medicine is combined with palliative care modalities, the toolbox to provide symptom control and well-being or QOL is increased or broadened. Palliative care and integrative medicine are best provided early in the trajectory of illness such as cancer, and increase in amount as the illness progresses toward end of life. Goals of care change as the disease progresses, and a patient¡¯s unique situation creates a different balance of integrative and conventional therapies. This review focuses on how integrative and complementary modalities can be included in comprehensive palliative care for patients with advanced malignancies
%U http://apm.amegroups.com/article/view/4127/5060