Alternative cancer treatments
Since the 1940s, medical science has developed chemotherapy, radiation therapy, adjuvant therapy and the newer targeted therapies, as well as refined surgical techniques for removing cancer. Before the development of these modern, evidence-based treatments, 90% of cancer patients died within five years. With modern mainstream treatments, only 34% of cancer patients die within five years. However, while mainstream forms of cancer treatment generally prolong life or permanently cure cancer, most treatments also have side effects ranging from unpleasant to fatal, such as pain, blood clots, fatigue, and infection. These side effects and the lack of a guarantee that treatment will be successful create appeal for alternative treatments for cancer, which purport to cause fewer side effects or to increase survival rates despite evidence to suggest a 2–5 fold increase in death with alternative medicines.
Cancer Treatment Centers of America
Cancer Treatment Centers of America also provide cancer specific centers for the following diseases at select locations:In addition, Cancer Treatment Centers of America offers several clinical trials at all five of their hospitals and is an active participate in studies offered through clinicaltrials.gov program. In 2016, CTCA offered the TAPUR study also known as the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry study. This was led by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). The study aimed to improve our understanding of how commercially available anti-cancer drugs perform on a broader range of cancers, by matching the drugs to tumors with specific genomic mutations that the drugs are designed to target.