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Treatment of cancer patients by Homoeopathy and complementary medicine

A study has been conducted in Europe on cancer patients to find out effectiveness of homoeopathy and complementary medicine. For the collection of data cross-sectional descriptive survey was designed. A elaborated questionnaire concerning entire oncology therapies to be administered to all the national health system oncology centres in each European country. Until 31 December 2013 information was recieved from 123 (52.1%) out of the 236 centres contacted. 24 from Italy and 23 from other European countries out of 99 responding centers meeting inclusion criteria provided integrative oncology treatment. On average 301.2 to 337 numbers of patients seen per years among these centres providing these kind of therapies. Thirty-two centres (68.1%) had research in progress or carried out until the deadline of the survey. Complementary/alternative medicine like homoeopathy provided to cancer patients mainly directed to reduce adverse reactions to chemo-radiotherapy (23.9%), in particular nausea and vomiting (13.4%), leukopenia (5%), pain and fatigue (10.9%), to reduce side effects of iatrogenic menopause (8.8%), to improve anxiety and depression (5.9%), gastrointestinal disorders (5%), sleep disturbances and neuropathy (3.8%).  To increase the knowledge in this field and provide evidence-based healthcare, mapping of the centres across Europe is an essential step in the process of creating European network.

Reference: Elio Rossi, Alessandra Vita, Sonia Baccetti, Mariella Di Stefano, Fabio Voller and Alberto Zanobini, Homeopathy and complementary medicine for cancer patients: results of a survey on integrative oncology centres in Europe, Homeopathy, February 2016Volume 105, Issue 1, Pages 21.