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September 12, 2007

CAM For Lung Cancer Treatment

This article hits close to home for me. My father, while recovering from colon cancer, had a screening test that revealed a lesion of some sort in his right lung. A biopsy of the lesion came back inconclusive and so the doctors decided to watch it to see if it would change over time. Part of their watching included chest X-rays every three month for a couple of years. The stress of the situation caused my father to break out with shingles which he suffered with for the rest of his life.

Now, according to the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) low-dose CT scans and X-rays are no longer recommended for lung cancer screening. Experts at the ACCP say nodules are often found during screening but determining whether they are cancerous requires additional invasive and extensive testing. This they say may cause the patient unnecessary risk, both physically and psychologically and often these abnormalities turn out to be harmless scar tissue.

The ACCP has issued guidelines for the first time on the use of complementary therapies for lung cancer patients. They support the use of massage for lung cancer patients experiencing anxiety, mood disturbances, or chronic pain. They also recommend acupuncture for lung cancer patients experiencing nausea, vomiting, pain, or fatigue from their lung cancer treatment, and for those unable to quit smoking through other methods. The ACCP says lung cancer patients should tell their doctors about any complementary therapies they use and avoid treatments that claim to replace conventional medical care.

The ACCP guidelines also say people at risk for lung cancer are not advised to take beta-carotene supplements, vitamin E supplements, retinoids (vitamin A), N-acetylcysteine, selenium, or aspirin for lung cancer prevention.

Sadly for my father, the year the doctors decided to back off X-ray screenings to twice a year, he developed lung cancer. Could his lung cancer have developed because of his higher exposure to radiation screening? We'll never know. We just miss him a lot.

tags: massage massagetherapy wellness massage therapy bodywork health

Posted by linda at September 12, 2007 8:38 AM