FHN Complementary Medicine Monthly Newsletter September 2005
Integrative Oncology
Just got back from New York City and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) where I participated in a conference and did grand rounds with their Integrative Medicine Department. The conference was focused on Acupuncture in oncology, but MSKCC is doing multiple disciplines in the hospital from music therapy to massage, acupuncture to karate.
Currently MSKCC is using acupuncture at all stages of cancer care in conjunction with standard and investigational cancer treatments.
Acupuncture is being used for:
Pain control in all stages. They involve this early on and have found that use of traditional pain meds are substantially decreased. In addition they have found hospital stays are shortened.
Symptom relief from chemotherapy and radiation treatments. This is especially true of treatment of nausea and vomiting and neuropathy prevention and treatment.
Fatigue due to anemia and cytotoxicity.
Immune system modulation. Improving T-cell count and Lymph counts.
Help with urination and defecation after surgery.
MSKCC is doing some interesting research on acupuncture and herbs in oncology.
One of the projects involves using functional MRI while doing acupuncture and watching the areas of increased metabolic activity at various brain centers.
One project involves studying the use of the Chinese herb of Coptis in solid tumors.
Over the 7 year history of the integrative medicine department they have gone from 2 people to a department of over 50 and growing.
Some food for thought for FHN.
Sincerely
Dr. Glenn Smith
Complementary Medicine
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