Multidisciplinary integrative medicine as tailored treatment for cancer patients: A multicentre, retrospective, case series study.

Abstract

e13896 Background: Integrative Medicine (IM) combines traditional medicine (TM) with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Despite the controversial concomitant use of CAM with anti-cancer treatments (ACTs), about 20-50% of cancer patients use CAM to manage adverse events (AEs) from ACTs. Recently, a European Union programmatic document for 2019-2024 indicated that science-based IM could improve Quality of Life (QoL) in cancer patients, if it is used under the supervision of healthcare institutions and physicians. The aim of our study is to demonstrate the feasibility of using CAM in combination with ACTs, the improving in QoL and reduction of AEs. Methods: Included patients received standard ACTs before or during the IM and were treated with an IM approach after the failure of ACTs and/or the appearance of serious and/or persistent AEs related to ACTs. The IM consisted of VitC and VitD, probiotics, and medicinal mushrooms (MMs). All patients signed written informed consent and were treated in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and local ethical guidelines. Results: Patient characteristics are described in Table 1. 44.4% reported an improvement in QoL and fatigue from CAM use, with some patients experiencing multiple benefits, including reduced toxicity, fatigue, and tumor shrinkage. 92.6% of patients reported no AEs from CAM administration. Patients with PS ECOG 2 had a higher risk of death (HR: 16.8, 95% CI: 3.78–74.5, P = 0.0002) compared to those with PS 1. The combined MMs + polytherapy-based CAM approach demonstrated the broadest efficacy, providing benefits in fatigue and QoL. Conclusions: The feasibility of using CAM concomitantly with ACTs and the low toxicity profile suggest that IM could be a potential strategy to improve QoL and cancer-related fatigue in cancer patients. This tailored IM approach lays the foundation for a new treatment concept that addresses not only the therapeutic goal but also the psychophysical health of patients. Patient characteristics. Total Patients (N=54) Cancer Type %  BC 25.9  CNS 20.4  CRC 16.6  Others 37.1 Advanced/Metastatic Disease (%) 83.3 IM Type %  MMs + polytherapy-based CAM 46.3  MMs 40.7  Polytherapy-based CAM 12.9 BC, breast cancer; CAM, complementary and alternative medicine; CNS, central nervous system; CRC, colorectal cancer; IM, Integrative Medicine; MMs, medicinal mushrooms.