CancerHomeopathy

Homeopathy in cancer care

Dr. Moshe Frenkel (photo), who is medical director of the Integrative Medicine Program at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas, has reviewed the evidence.

Laboratory research

  • A few laboratory experiments in cancer models show some beneficial effect of homeopathic remedies on selected cancer cell lines.

Patient research

  • Several published studies have shown there may be a role for homeopathy in symptom relief and improving quality of life in patients with cancer.
    • This has not been demonstrated unequivocally.
  • Specific antitumor effects have not been shown.

The bottom line?

Dr. Frankel believes more research in the use of homeopathy in cancer treatment is needed.

A Cochrane Library review on this topic is summarized here.

6/15/10 21:14 JR

Hi, I’m JR

John Russo, Jr., PharmD, is president of The MedCom Resource, Inc. Previously, he was senior vice president of medical communications at www.Vicus.com, a complementary and alternative medicine website.