Complementary therapies in radiation oncology: mixing cow pie with apple pie?

摘要

Introduction: Major advances have been made in the use of radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer, both as adjuvant therapy to reduce the rate of local recurrence after surgical resection, and as primary local therapy, either alone (as in the primary treatment of early stage prostate cancer) or in combination with systemic chemotherapy (such as the Nigro protocol for anal cancer). However, as effective as it is at local therapy, radiotherapy can produce considerable side-effects, including pain, injury to the treated organ and its neighbouring structures (e.g. radiation injury to bowel due to treatment of pelvic malignancies, injury to skin in soft tissue malignancies, or injury to heart or lungs during treatment of breast or lung cancer), and systemic effects, such as fatigue. Consequently, supportive care for patients undergoing radiation therapy for malignancy has become increasingly important in the holistic care of cancer patients. Such interventions have the potential to improve the QoL of patients undergoing radiation therapy, and potentially to lessen complications.