The National Cancer Institute best case series program: a summary of cases of cancer patients treated with unconventional therapies in India

A Review on the Current Status of Homeopathy in the Clinical Manage-ment of Cancer

Homeopathy is a widely practiced alternate system of medicine around the world that employs small doses of various medicines to promote auto-regulation and self-healing. It is among the most commonly used alternative approaches in cancer and other diseases and alternative therapeutic systems. It is widely used as palliative and as supportive therapy in cancer patients. Few cases have been reported on patients using homeopathy after surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, generally for overcoming side effects. The dose of Homoeopathic medicines and their mechanism of action in cancer has also been documented, while clinical trials on the effects of Homoeopathy in cancer treatment are rare. It is found that the anticancer potential of homeopathic medicines is reported for different cancer types, which show their efficacy through apoptosis and immune system modulation. Homeopathic treatment is an add-on to conventional therapy, with almost no interaction with the conventional drugs due to the small dose, and is largely attributed to improving lives by providing symptomatic relief, increasing survival time and boosting patient immunity. This review explores the accountability of the homeopathic system of medicine by highlighting some of the most commonly used homeopathic drugs for different types of cancers.

Case study projects by a Korean national research agency: Past 12 years and future

OBJECTIVES

Scientific rigor is a known challenge to establish in heavily individualized practices of traditional medicine. A national research agency in Korea carried out a 12-year project to promote case reports among clinics of Korean Medicine (KM). This report aims at providing challenges, achievements, and thoughts for future endeavors.

METHODS

We reviewed all the projects executed by the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine between 2005 and 2017 promoting case reports in clinics of KM. The findings were categorized stage of project development, themes of project stage, achievement, and challenges.

RESULTS

The implemented studies include eleven prospective- and five retrospective - case series, and one comparative trial. The project stages are divided into four, initial (surveying and building a database on Korean acupuncture), transitional (educating Korean Medicine doctors on writing case reports and building a case report system), stagnation (partially attributable to IRB's considering case report projects as clinical trial) and resurrection (building a rigorous evidence base from local clinics). The major challenges included practitioners' in clinics feeling burdened by the rigor of documentation requirement, the limited options of usable objective measurement tools available at general KM, and IRB's categorizing case report projects as clinical trials hence imposing unrealistic compliance burden.

CONCLUSIONS

Promoting case reports in local clinics, while being warranted to remain as a crucial research method to build evidence based KM practice, requires supports from stakeholders including motivated clinicians of KM, extended use of diagnostic device available at KM practice, and insightful and flexible regulatory bodies' decision making.

Traditional and complementary medicine used with curative intent in childhood cancer: A systematic review

Traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) strategies are widely utilized in pediatric oncology, with many families reporting T&CM use with the intention to cure cancer. Study of T&CM agents presents many challenges, as a heterogeneous group of agents and techniques are used for a variety of different purpose in many different oncologic conditions. We present a systematic review of the literature examining published reports in which T&CM agents are used with an intention of cure. Twenty-two reports were identified, with most reports being of poor quality. Novel paradigms are likely needed to further investigate T&CM agents.

Is There a Role for Homeopathy in Cancer Care? Questions and Challenges

Patients with cancer commonly use complementary and integrative medicine, including homeopathy. Homeopathy has grown in popularity with the public but is viewed with skepticism by medical academia and is still excluded from conventionally prescribed treatments. In recent years, homeopathy has been used in cancer care in Europe and other countries worldwide. This use raised the question if there is any benefit in utilizing this type of care with cancer patients. The purpose of this manuscript is to explore the evidence related to the benefit of homeopathy in cancer care. Limited research has suggested that homeopathic remedies appear to cause cellular changes in some cancer cells. In animal models, several homeopathic remedies have had an inhibitory effect on certain tumor development. Some clinical studies of homeopathic remedies combined with conventional care have shown that homeopathic remedies improve quality of life, reduce symptom burden, and possibly improve survival in patients with cancer. The findings from several lab and clinical studies suggest that homeopathy might have some beneficial effect in cancer care; however, further large, comprehensive clinical studies are needed to determine these beneficial effects. Although additional studies are needed to confirm these findings, given the low cost, minimal risks, and the potential magnitude of homeopathy's effects, this use might be considered in certain situations as an additional tool to integrate into cancer care.

Clinical Studies of Biofield Therapies: Summary, Methodological Challenges, and Recommendations

Biofield therapies are noninvasive therapies in which the practitioner explicitly works with a client's biofield (interacting fields of energy and information that surround living systems) to stimulate healing responses in patients. While the practice of biofield therapies has existed in Eastern and Western cultures for thousands of years, empirical research on the effectiveness of biofield therapies is still relatively nascent. In this article, we provide a summary of the state of the evidence for biofield therapies for a number of different clinical conditions. We note specific methodological issues for research in biofield therapies that need to be addressed (including practitioner-based, outcomes-based, and research design considerations), as well as provide a list of suggested next steps for biofield researchers to consider.

Traditional Chinese medicine in the prevention and treatment of cancer and cancer metastasis

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been a major part of healthcare in China, and has extensively affected medicine and healthcare in surrounding countries over a long period of time. In the fight against cancer, certain anticancer remedies using herbs or herbal formulas derived from TCM have been developed for the management of malignancies. Furthermore, there are clinical trials registered for the use of herbal remedies in cancer management. Herbal medicine has been used as part of combined therapies to reduce the side-effects of chemotherapy, including bone marrow suppression, nausea and vomiting. Herbal remedies have also been used as chemopreventive therapies to treat precancerous conditions in order to reduce the incidence of cancer in high-risk populations. Emerging evidence has revealed that herbal remedies can regulate the proliferation, apoptosis, adhesion and migration of cancer cells. In addition to this direct effect upon cancer cells, a number of herbal remedies have been identified to suppress angiogenesis and therefore reduce tumour growth. The inhibition of tumour growth may also be due to modifications of the host immune system by the herbal treatment. However, the precise mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of herbal remedies remain poorly understood and are yet to be fully elucidated. The present study aims to summarize the current literature and clinical trial results of herbal remedies for cancer treatment, with a particular focus on the recent findings and development of the Yangzheng Xiaoji capsule.

Integrative nanomedicine: treating cancer with nanoscale natural products

Finding safer and more effective treatments for specific cancers remains a significant challenge for integrative clinicians and researchers worldwide. One emerging strategy is the use of nanostructured forms of drugs, vaccines, traditional animal venoms, herbs, and nutraceutical agents in cancer treatment. The recent discovery of nanoparticles in traditional homeopathic medicines adds another point of convergence between modern nanomedicine and alternative interventional strategies. A way in which homeopathic remedies could initiate anticancer effects includes cell-to-cell signaling actions of both exogenous and endogenous (exosome) nanoparticles. The result can be a cascade of modulatory biological events with antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects. The Banerji Protocols reflect a multigenerational clinical system developed by homeopathic physicians in India who have treated thousands of patients with cancer. A number of homeopathic remedy sources from the Banerji Protocols (eg, Calcarea phosphorica; Carcinosin-tumor-derived breast cancer tissue prepared homeopathically) overlap those already under study in nonhomeopathic nanoparticle and nanovesicle tumor exosome cancer vaccine research. Past research on antineoplastic effects of nano forms of botanical extracts such as Phytolacca, Gelsemium, Hydrastis, Thuja, and Ruta as well as on homeopathic remedy potencies made from the same types of source materials suggests other important overlaps. The replicated finding of silica, silicon, and nano-silica release from agitation of liquids in glassware adds a proven nonspecific activator and amplifier of immunological effects. Taken together, the nanoparticulate research data and the Banerji Protocols for homeopathic remedies in cancer suggest a way forward for generating advances in cancer treatment with natural product-derived nanomedicines.