Pinn G
Nambour General Hospital, Queensland.
Aust Fam Physician. 2001 Jun;30(6):575-80.
Over the years cancer has been more complicated by 'wonder cures' than perhaps any other condition. Remedies such as laetril, shark cartilage, high dose vitamins and many alternative medical practices have been used with little evidence of improvement and sometimes worsened outcome. It is disconcerting that attempts to scientifically discredit these treatments sometimes result in the development of conspiracy theories. However, some plants do contain anticancer agents, the vinca alkaloids (derived from the Madagascar periwinkle) and paclitaxel (derived from the pacific yew tree) are examples of success stories. Extensive screening of tens of thousands of plants has unfortunately revealed only a handful of potential cancer cures. An evidence based approach to alternative treatment in malignancy is appropriate and this seventh article in this series reviews the evidence.
多年来，癌症比其他任何疾病可能都更因“神奇疗法”而变得复杂。诸如苦杏仁苷、鲨鱼软骨、高剂量维生素以及许多替代医学疗法等治疗手段，在使用时几乎没有改善的证据，有时甚至会使病情恶化。令人不安的是，试图从科学角度诋毁这些治疗方法的做法，有时会导致阴谋论的产生。然而，一些植物确实含有抗癌剂，长春花生物碱（源自马达加斯加长春花）和紫杉醇（源自太平洋紫杉树）就是成功的例子。遗憾的是，对数万种植物进行的广泛筛选仅发现了少数几种有潜力的癌症治疗药物。对恶性肿瘤采用基于证据的替代治疗方法是合适的，本系列的第七篇文章将对相关证据进行综述。
