In a recent American Cancer Society report, researchers revealed that up to 61% of cancer patients use complementary therapies to help combat their disease.  In this study, complementary medicine was characterized as prayer, relaxation techniques, massage, supplementary vitamins, hypnosis, acupuncture, and spiritual counseling.

The report, which echoed findings of many smaller studies, found that complementary therapies were most commonly used among younger patients and women.  Dr. Ted Gansler, co-author of the report, gathered his information from 4,139 cancer survivors in order to determine not only which complementary methods are common, but which are effective.  The patients were interviewed 10 to 24 months after diagnosis.

According to a summary in Forbes, among cancer survivors:

• 61.4 percent used prayer;
• 44.3 percent used relaxation techniques
• 42.4 percent used faith/spiritual healing
• 40.1 percent used nutritional supplements such as vitamins
• 15 percent used meditation
• 11.3 percent used religious counseling
• 11.2 percent used massage
• 9.7 percent participated in support groups

The study also found that other methods were occasionally used: 0.4% used hypnosis, 1% used biofeedback therapy, and 1.2% used acupuncture or acupressure.

In general, complementary therapy was used by 59% of women, compared to only 43% of men.  Specifically, techniques such as tai chi and yoga were used by 10.1 percent of women, but only with 1.9 percent of men. Massage was used by 16.6 percent of women, and 3.9 percent of men.

Alternative medicine expert Dr. Harold Burstein, an instructor in the Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, said, "This study, like many before it, confirms that cancer patients actively pursue a variety of alternative and complementary therapies, usually in conjunction with standard approaches to cancer treatment."

This study is only a stepping stone in discovering the efficacy and impact of complementary therapies.  The study could not determine the correlation between some factors.  For example, complementary therapy was most used among ovarian and breast cancer patients.  Because all ovarian and nearly all breast cancer patients are women, this fact was not surprising.  But why, then, was complementary medicine not used as frequently among uterine cancer patients, who are also all female?

Gansler aims to unlock the mysteries of complementary treatments.  "As more studies are done to evaluate effectiveness, we will want to know whether men are missing opportunities to use some effective complementary methods that are far more popular in women, or whether women use ineffective complementary methods more than men. Or whether some complementary methods are more effective for women than they are for men," he said.