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Complementary medicines associated with poor outcomes in patients with cancer

September 18, 2018
  • Advising on this article:
  • Nicole M. Maisch

KEY POINT

Patients with cancer who used complementary medicines had higher refusal rates of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and hormone therapy compared with those who did not use these alternative therapies, resulting in greater risk of death, according to results of a retrospective observational study published in JAMA Oncology.

SOURCES

Johnson SB, et al. Complementary medicine, refusal of conventional cancer therapy, and survival among patients with curable cancers. JAMA Oncol. 2018;[Epub ahead of print]. 

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