The San Antonio Cancer Institute (SACI) is sponsoring an opportunity for San Antonio and surrounding communities to build upon the translational science and clinical strengths to create a center focused on investigating complimentary and alternative medicines (CAM) in clinical cancer care. Physicians and research scientists, as well as members of the South Texas patient advocacy community, will participate in an exciting two-day symposium designed to develop and promote diverse community and multi-institutional partnerships in complementary and preventive cancer care.
CAMs are forms of treatment that are used in addition to (complementary) or instead of (alternative) standard treatments and may include dietary supplements, megadose vitamins, herbal preparations, special teas, acupuncture, massage therapy, magnet therapy and spiritual healing. They represent a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine.
The goal of this symposium is to bring together those interested in the use of CAMs for patient care and to lay the foundation for the eventual development of a CAM translational research center. Symposium participants will be able to:
•understand the role of CAM research for the lay, clinical and research communities,
•discuss ways to conduct effective studies of CAMs and chemo preventive agents within diverse communities,
•understand the clinical relationships between nutrition, phytochemicals, obesity, carcinogenesis and cancer,
•learn about new agents that may be able to prevent cancer in various organs.
This symposium is another important endeavor in the SACI mission of developing effective and innovative mechanisms in cancer prevention and treatment with the potential for significant impact in not only the lives of the South Texas cancer patient population, but cancer patients worldwide. The SACI is one of two National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Centers in Texas, is a partnership of the Health Science Center and the Cancer Therapy and Research Center (CTRC).
The symposium will take place Jan. 6-7 at the CTRC Mabee Conference Center.
For more information, please contact the SACI: (210) 567-2710.
Facts:
•Forty percent of Americans have used at least one form of CAM.
•One in five uses prescription medications and CAM.
•Thirty-three percent of the population uses herbal remedies.
•Eleven to 56 percent of cancer patients use alternative medicines.
•However, while the use of CAMs has been increasing within the cancer patient population, translational research into the true effectiveness of CAMs in the prevention and treatment of various cancer types has been severely lacking.
