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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Quackery

Belief in alternative cancer cures: We have a lot of work to do to combat quackery

Earlier this week, a new survey from the American Society of Clinical Oncology showed that belief in alternative cancer cures is common, with roughly four out of ten Americans believing that “natural” alternative treatments alone can cure cancer, without any conventional oncologic therapies, like chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. This survey points to just how ingrained misinformation about cancer is in our society and how much work advocates of science-based oncology have ahead of them to combat it.

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Cancer Medicine Science

Cancer disparities: Money matters

Cancer is an incredibly complicated disease. It’s not just differences in genetics and biology that determine outcomes, either. Cancer disparities is the study of factors that result in differences in outcome. Not surprisingly, money matters.

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Cancer Clinical trials Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Aromatase inhibitors and acupuncture in breast cancer: Spinning a negative study

Aromatase inhibitors are antiestrogen drugs frequently used to treat breast cancer. Unfortunately, they can cause significant joint pain. A recent study of acupuncture for joint pain caused by these drugs was basically negative, but the authors did their best to spin it as positive. Same as it ever was for acupuncture studies.

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Integrative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience

Complementary medicine use and cancer survival: A negative correlation

We know that alternative medicine use is associated with poorer survival in cancer, but what about the use of so-called “complementary medicine,” “complementary and alternative medicine,” or “integrative medicine”? Bad news. There’s still a negative correlation between the use of pseudoscientific and unproven medicine and cancer survival, even when used with conventional cancer therapy rather than instead of it.

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Biology Cancer Computers and social media Medicine

IBM Watson: Not living up to hype as a tool to fight cancer?

Five years ago, IBM announced that its supercomputer Watson would revolutionize cancer treatment by using its artificial intelligence to digest and distill the thousands of oncology studies published every year plus patient-level data and expert recommendations into treatment recommendation. Last week, a report published by STAT News shows that, years later, IBM’s hubris and hype have crashed into reality.