To take care of the physical, social, and mental parts of cancer care, integrative oncology blends standard cancer medicines with alternative ones. This multidisciplinary method tries to improve cancer patients' general health by focusing on more than just the disease itself. It also looks at their quality of life and their ability to bounce back from tough times. Conventional cancer treatments, like surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, try to get rid of all cancer cells. Complementary treatments, like acupuncture, plant medicine, and mindfulness-based practices, try to make it easier to deal with symptoms, lessen side effects, and speed up the healing process. Putting these two types of treatment together has gotten a lot of attention lately because of the growing interest in patient-centered results and balanced care. Conventional treatments can be very harsh and often have serious side effects that can lower the quality of life for patients. These side effects might be lessened by complementary treatments, which may also improve mental health, lower stress, and speed up the body's natural mending processes. Mindfulness-based treatments can also help people deal with the worry and stress that come with being diagnosed with cancer and going through treatment. When you use alternative therapies along with conventional treatments, you need to think carefully about how well they work and how safe they are. More and more study is showing that integrative cancer might be helpful, but it's still hard to standardize methods and find the best ways to combine treatments.
Patadiya et al. (Fri,) studied this question.