Abstract
Many cancer patients use homeopathic approaches to increase their body’s ability to
fight cancer, improve their physical and emotional well-being, and alleviate their
pain resulting from the disease or conventional treatments. Homeopathy is highly controversial
as there is no plausible mode of action for these highly diluted remedies. The aim
of this systematic review is to summarize and critically evaluate the efficacy of
homeopathic remedies used as a sole or additional therapy in cancer care. We have
searched the literature using the databases: Amed (from 1985); CINHAL (from 1982);
EMBASE (from 1974); Medline (from 1951); and CAMbase (from 1998). Randomised and non-randomised
controlled clinical trials including patients with cancer or past experience of cancer
receiving single or combined homeopathic interventions were included. The methodological
quality of the trials was assessed by Jadad score. Six studies met our inclusion criteria
(five were randomised clinical trials and one was a non-randomised study); but the
methodological quality was variable including some high standard studies. Our analysis
of published literature on homeopathy found insufficient evidence to support clinical
efficacy of homeopathic therapy in cancer care.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
September 28,
2005
Received:
September 23,
2005
Identification
Copyright
© 2005 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
