Complementary Medicine for Patients With Gastrointestinal Malignancies

Gary Deng, MD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, reviews opportunities for complementary medicine, a topic he covered in his presentation at the 2022 Great Debates & Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies virtual meeting.

In this presentation, Dr Deng explains the benefit/risk ratio of these therapies or practices that are not part of the mainstream Western care.

Transcript:

Do you have patients who ask you, "What else can I do?" after you have presented them with the treatment plan for their cancer? They may ask, "What should I eat? How should I exercise? What supplements or herbs can I pick? I heard this may help me, or that may help me."

Hi, my name is Gary Deng. I'm the Medical Director of Integrated Medicine Service at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. At the Great Debates and Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies event, I gave a talk about complementary therapies in GI malignancies. There, I talk about these patients' problems and needs and how we can meet their needs. Specifically, these are patients who want to do more, who want to be proactive, who want to participate in their own care. And it is a good opportunity for us to give them the tools to do that. When we talk about complementary therapies, we are really talking about therapies or practices that historically were not part of mainstream Western care; however, in recent years, research has shown they have a favorable benefit and risk ratio. There are specific studies showing their efficacies and their safety records.

How do we incorporate these things to a patient's cancer care so that they can get the best experience, the best outcome, the best quality of life, and they live better, they feel better, and they do better? That's the question I'm going to touch on in this talk. Specifically, I will talk about how we approach patients who have these questions, how we motivate them, and how we offer lifestyle changes—dietary changes, exercise, stress management, sleep and circadian rhythm, and so on—so that they can stay not only well, but also thrive. In addition, I will talk about specific complementary therapies such as acupuncture, massage therapy, mind-body practices, or what I call, body-mind practices, such as yoga, Tai chi, and other. And I will show the evidence out there, if there is evidence, what is it? There is actually a lot of evidence out there we just probably not know because it's not part of a medical school training or fellowship training.

I hope with this session you can see something that will be helpful in your daily management of patients. And through doing that, you may build a better relationship, a better rapport with your patients, and make them do better in their cancer treatment journey.

Source:

Deng G. Complementary Medicine in Gastrointestinal Malignancies. Presented at Great Debates & Updates in Gastrointestinal Malignancies; November 16-18, 2022; virtual.