Comprehensive Cancer Care: Integrating Alternative, Complementary and Conventional Therapies [Hardcover]

James Gordon (Author), Sharon Curtin (Author), M.D., James Gordon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2000

Of the 1.5 million Americans diagnosed with cancer annually, fully half will seek alternative or complementary care for their disease. Drawing on the studies and critiques of many of the world's most gifted researchers and clinicians, this book scientifically explores the most promising complementary and alternative therapies-and sifts through the often frustrating and confusing barrage of information and misinformation about them-to provide readers with the direction and help they need to create an individualized cancer-care strategy. A powerful tool for making wiser decisions and more sensible choices to both treat and prevent cancer, the book includes: o Reports on the most accepted and researched complementary and alternative practices, including assessments of their efficacy, side effects, and cost effectiveness, and how they can best be integrated with conventional care o Empowering advice for patients with clear action steps for speaking to doctors and evaluative guidelines for researching available treatment approaches o Critical discussion of cutting-edge interventions-nutrition, Chinese medicine, herbal therapies, mind-body approaches, and energy medicine-that have undergone clinical trials and those which are now beginning to be employed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Of the 1.2 million people diagnosed with cancer each year, at least half seek out alternative and/or complementary care in addition to or in place of conventional treatments. As a result, health-care approaches ranging from traditional Chinese medicine to dietary regimens to the use of supplements such as shark cartilage and coenzyme Q10 are capturing the attention of the medical establishment and gaining momentum as viable--if not lifesaving--cancer-fighting strategies. On the forefront of this widening acceptance in the medical community is James S. Gordon, M.D., Georgetown University medical professor, director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., and creator of the Comprehensive Cancer Care conferences, which in recent years have provided an important forum for sharing and evaluating both conventional and alternative cancer research.

Comprehensive Cancer Care, which Gordon wrote with patient advocate and author Sharon Curtin, is an authoritative, eloquent guide to more experimental methodologies that have demonstrated improvements in quality of life and life expectancy, or in fact have reversed cancer's destructive trajectory, for patients with all stages of cancer. They address the efficacy of therapeutic diets, such as German physician Max Gerson's detoxifying routine and Michio Kushi's macrobiotic regimen; Houston doctor Stanislaw Burzynski's controversial treatment using antineoplastons, or short chains of amino acids; Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez's pancreatic enzyme therapy; mind-body techniques such as hypnosis, meditation, and self-expression; and the use of phytonutrients such as green tea, melatonin, and a mushroom called Maitake-D. Interspersed among the discussions of each approach are moving stories of patients who, dissatisfied with the standard, impersonal, and discomforting steps of surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, have come to Gordon's mind-body facility in search of other, more empowering techniques for combating the disease, often with amazing results.

Gordon believes that a seamless integration of the best of allopathic and alternative care is the future of effective health care. Indeed, many of the findings and anecdotes presented in this book lend credence to--and give hope for--that vision. Anyone struggling with cancer would do well to consider the information given here; while the sophistication and benefits of conventional medical care can hardly be disputed, the advantages of exploring one's choices in healing are profound. --Rebecca Wright

From Publishers Weekly

Based on a series of medical conferences exploring new approaches to cancer, this guide discusses a wide variety of cancer-fighting modalities. Throughout, Gordon (a professor at Georgetown Univ. School of Medicine) and Curtin (Nobody Ever Died of Old Age) encourage readers to consider unfamiliar ideas, form effective patient/doctor partnerships and adopt empowered, informed patient attitudes. Often a cursory element in health guides, the case studies here genuinely support these themes, evoking the stories of cancer patients with vividness and force. The idea of integrating conventional and holistic treatments (acupuncture, diet and herbs, and meditation, among others) is not uniqueAseveral volumes on the subject have been published in the past year alone; moreover, the book treats a number of conventional and holistic tools with little detail. Instead, its true value is its focus on alternative cures, the often radical cancer-fighting tools only now being pioneered: antineoplastons, diet and detoxification programs, vaccines, etc. Both fascinating and helpful, this material points the way toward new possibilities for the remediation of even cancers currently accepted as incurable. Yet readers already stricken with one of disease's many variants may find it frustrating as well, since these methods are neither widely available nor, as yet, well supported by research and testing. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 314 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1st edition (May 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738202843
• ISBN-13: 978-0738202846
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,578,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Summary of Cancer Treatment Alternatives, July 24, 2000

By 

John Bennett (Aspen, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Comprehensive Cancer Care: Integrating Alternative, Complementary and Conventional Therapies (Hardcover)

"Comprehensive Cancer Care" offers a superb overview of the many alternative and complimentary cancer treatment options currently available. Dr. James Gordon, who chairs a White House task force on alternative medicine, brings to the table many of today's top clinical researchers and practitioners to share their most recent studies and results. The book makes fascinating and informative reading for anyone struggling to better understand the competing claims made by different alternative cancer approaches, ranging from traditional Chinese medicine to recent research into enzyme treatments. Dr. Gordon has done all cancer patients a great service with this clear, level headed and much-needed book.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and balanced, August 6, 2000

By 

Malcolm G. Sands - See all my reviews

This review is from: Comprehensive Cancer Care: Integrating Alternative, Complementary and Conventional Therapies (Hardcover)

Gordon's book is a very thorough study of the appropriate marriage between conventional cancer treatments and the miriad of alternative treatments. Through this book he acknowledges the pharmaceutical approaches yet offers explanations of alternative approaches that can be blended with them. He makes reference to many of the cutting edge therapies which include nutritional supplements. A source for such supplements which also offer corroborative documentation is iHerb. Of course they aren't as detailed as Gordon's book so owning this book is a must, but they do have a wide variety of products and follow up with exemplary service and quick response to any queries you might have. If you or a loved one has cancer, make a thorough study of Gordon's book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Concerned Spouse, August 30, 2004

By 

Concerned Spouse (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Comprehensive Cancer Care: Integrating Alternative, Complementary, and Conventional Therapies (Paperback)

I purchased this book in conjunction with many others. It is an excellent overview of conventional and alternative medicene therapies. It was very helpful to me to better understand the non traditional options available for consideration for my wife. If I were selectng one book to thelp me a with a recent cancer diagnosis this would not be it, but it would be number two or three.