Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative cancer treatments do not have high-quality evidence supporting their use and many have been described as fundamentally pseudoscientific. Concerns have been raised about the safety of some purported treatments and some have been found unsafe in clinical trials. Despite this, many untested and disproven treatments are used around the world. Promoting or marketing such treatments is illegal in most of the developed world.
Alternative cancer treatments are typically contrasted with experimental cancer treatments – science-based treatment methods – and complementary treatments, which are non-invasive practices used in combination with conventional treatment. All approved chemotherapy medications were considered experimental treatments before completing safety and efficacy testing.
Since the late 19th century, medical researchers have established modern cancer care through the development of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapies, and refined surgical techniques. , only 32.9% of cancer patients in the United States died within five years of their diagnosis. Despite their effectiveness, many conventional treatments are accompanied by a wide range of side effects, including pain, fatigue, and nausea. Some side effects can even be life-threatening. Many supporters of alternative treatments claim increased effectiveness and decreased side effects when compared to conventional treatments. However, one retrospective cohort study showed that patients using alternative treatments instead of conventional treatments were 2.5 times more likely to die within five years.
Most alternative cancer treatments have not been tested in proper clinical trials. Among studies that have been published, the quality is often poor.
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Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy (including immunotherapy such as monoclonal antibody therapy) and synthetic lethality, most commonly as a series of separate treatments (e.g. chemotherapy before surgery). The choice of therapy depends upon the location and grade of the tumor and the stage of the disease, as well as the general state of the patient (performance status). Cancer genome sequencing helps in determining which cancer the patient exactly has for determining the best therapy for the cancer.
Experimental cancer treatments are mainstream medical therapies intended to treat cancer by improving on, supplementing or replacing conventional methods (surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy). However, researchers are still trying to determine whether these treatments are safe and effective treatments. Experimental cancer treatments are normally available only to people who participate in formal research programs, which are called clinical trials.
Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In European countries, a person professionally trained to give massages is traditionally known as a masseur (male) or masseuse (female). In the United States, these individuals are often referred to as massage therapists, because they must be certified and licensed as "licensed massage therapists".
The course covers in detail molecular mechanisms of cancer development with emphasis on cell cycle control, genome stability, oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes.
(1) To expose PhD students to cutting-edge research in the field of Cancer Research through attendance of lectures given by world-leading distinguished scientists in the field.
The goal of this course is to instruct the student how fundamental scientific knowledge can be applied for drug discovery and development. We will demonstrate these principles with examples, including
The present invention relates generally to the field of anti-cancer therapy, in particular to the use of agents or co-agents useful in anti-cancer immunotherapy such as adoptive T-cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy and immune check-point blockades. ...
The present invention relates to 6-diazo-5-oxo-L-norleucine prodrugs having reduced toxicity and increased tumor specificity and to their therapeutic use for treating cancer. ...
Ex-vivo drug sensitivity screening (DSS) allows the prediction of cancer treatment effectiveness in a personalized fashion. However, it only provides a readout on mixtures of cells, potentially occulting important information on clinically relevant cell su ...