Palliative In-Patient Cancer Treatment in an Anthroposophic Hospital: I. Treatment Patterns and Compliance with Anthroposophic Medicine*

Abstract

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)and most of all anthroposophic medicine (AM) are importantfeatures of cancer treatment in Switzerland. While the numberof epidemiological investigations into the use of such therapiesis increasing, there is a distinct lack of reports regarding thecombination of conventional and CAM methods. Patients andMethods: 144 in-patients with advanced epithelial cancers wereenrolled in a prospective quality-of-life (QoL) study at the LukasKlinik (LK), Arlesheim, Switzerland. Tumor-related treatmentwas assessed 4 months prior to admission, during hospitalizationand 4 months after baseline. Objective: We aimed at givinga detailed account of conventional, AM and CAM treatment patternsin palliative care, before, during and after hospitalization,with emphasis on compliance with AM after discharge. Results:Certain conventional treatments featured less during hospitalizationthan before but were resumed after discharge (chemotherapy,radiotherapy, sleeping pills, psychoactive drugs). Hormonetherapy, corticosteroids, analgesics WHO III and antidepressantsremained constant. AM treatment consisted ofIscador? (mistletoe), other plant- or mineral-derived medication,baths, massage, eurythmy, art therapy, counseling andlactovegetarian diet. Compliance after discharge was highestwith Iscador (90%) and lowest with art therapy (14%). Many patientsremained in the care of AM physicians. Other CAM andpsychological methods were initially used by 39.9% of patients.After 4 months, the use had decreased with few exceptions.Conclusion: During holistic palliative treatment in an anthroposophichospital, certain conventional treatments featured lesswhereas others remained constant. After discharge, chemotherapyreturned to previous levels, AM compliance remained high,the use of other CAM therapies low.