Why should cancer patients seek Integrative Cancer Therapies vs. Traditional Cancer Treatment?

Traditional cancer treatment is efficacious for early stage cancer. Unfortunately, in the U.S., there has been little progress in the treatment of advanced stage cancers in the past twenty years. A study was published in the British journal, “Clinical Oncology,” in December, 2004, entitled, “The Contribution of Cytotoxic Chemotherapy to 5-Year Survival in Adult Malignancies.” The authors, one medical oncologist and two radiation oncologists, analyzed the results of all randomized clinical trials performed in the U.S. and Australia, that reported a statistically significant increase in 5-year survival due to the use of chemotherapy in adult malignancies. The trials that were analyzed were performed between 1990 and 2004. The authors’ conclusions were the following:

• Contribution to 5-year survival in Australia was 2.3%
• Contribution to 5-year survival in US was 2.1%
• Median survival in lung cancer has increased by 2 months in the past 20 years
• Overall survival benefit of less than 5% has been achieved in the adjuvant treatment of breast, colon, and head and neck cancers.

Clearly, the need for an alternative form of cancer treatment is great and imminent.