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Palliative and Supportive Care

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So-Called Alternative Medicine (SCAM) for Cancer

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Abstract

In the previous chapter, we have seen that virtually no SCAM promoted as cancer cures is supported by sound evidence. This lack of proven effectiveness renders them dangerous to any cancer patient who decides to try them. If cancer patients use a SCAM to cure cancer while forfeiting conventional treatments, this choice would almost certainly cause significant harm and, in dramatic cases, it can even hasten their death. But this warning does not mean that SCAM has nothing to offer for cancer patients. As we will see in this chapter, some forms of SCAM show considerable promise in supportive and palliative care of cancer patients.

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Notes

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    Edzard Ernst

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Ernst, E. (2021). Palliative and Supportive Care. In: So-Called Alternative Medicine (SCAM) for Cancer. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74158-7_4

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