Traditional and complementary and alternative medicines make for unwilling bedfellows in the management of cancer: a case report with a tragic outcome.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Complementary and alternative medicine is very much in the public arena as a treatment option. The pharmacodynamics of most complementary and alternative medicines are not well understood, and some can lead to significant adverse drug interactions. This report aims to present the case of a cancer patient who abandoned traditional medicine in favour of complementary and alternative medicine. METHOD: Case report. RESULTS: The patient refused potentially curative adjuvant radiotherapy for his oral cavity carcinoma following surgery, and eventually succumbed to disease. CONCLUSION: Recently, there appears to be much public awareness of and empathy for complementary and alternative medicine. Healthcare professionals should be aware of such therapies so that they can advise their patients in an informed manner. The role of such therapies in benign conditions may not be as critical as that in malignancy, where life-saving conventional treatment may be abandoned in favour of complementary and alternative medicine, with consequent loss of life.