From here.
At issue is whether remedy-drug interactions are skewing the results of Phase I cancer trials. At present, this is hard to determine because it is hard to elicit (alternative) remedy use. To me, it's pretty clear that having remedy use out in the open is better than being secretive. However, what's interesting to me is the following, surveyed from 212 patients with advanced cancer enrolled in Phase I clinical trials:
Technorati Tags: cancer, alternative medicine
At issue is whether remedy-drug interactions are skewing the results of Phase I cancer trials. At present, this is hard to determine because it is hard to elicit (alternative) remedy use. To me, it's pretty clear that having remedy use out in the open is better than being secretive. However, what's interesting to me is the following, surveyed from 212 patients with advanced cancer enrolled in Phase I clinical trials:
- 72 (34 percent) use alternative remedies, similar to general US population usage
- 41 (19.3 percent) take vitamins and minerals
- 40 (18.9 percent) take herbal preparations
Sometimes, patients are reluctant to tell the doctor they are takingAlso,
alternative medicines, either because they don't think it's important,
or they don't want to be told to stop taking them, Daugherty said.
And, since it's often difficult to get cancer patients to take part inFor research, I think these matters need to be out in the open. For one thing, we need to understand our drugs we are developing. For another, we need to understand the alternative remedies.
phase 1 trials, some researchers may be reluctant to turn any potential
patient away. "In addition, most doctors don't know very much about
alternative medicine," Daugherty said.
Technorati Tags: cancer, alternative medicine
