Weisleder Pedro
Division of Child Neurology, Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205,
Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2010 Jan;49(1):7-11. doi: 10.1177/0009922809340438. Epub 2009 Jul 23.
The US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) defines CAM as "a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine." The problem with said therapies is that, for the most part, their effectiveness is questionable and their side effect profile is essentially unknown. Furthermore, as stated by Rosenbaum, many CAM treatments are based on "at best, anecdotal evidence and at times rather unusual ideas about the biology of the conditions to which they are being applied." In spite of the data shortage,Americans are forecasted to spend more than $42 billion on CAM during 2009. Using a patient for illustration purposes, the author presents 3 CAM treatments that have been advocated for children with cerebral palsy. The current scientific literature on these remedies and their purported benefit is reviewed. The article ends with a discussion on the reasons why prescribing said therapies is contrary to the concept of evidence-based medicine and the tenets of medical ethics.
美国国立补充与替代医学中心（CAM）将补充与替代医学定义为“一组多样的医疗保健系统、实践方法和产品，目前不被视为传统医学的一部分”。上述疗法存在的问题在于，在很大程度上，其有效性存疑，而且其副作用情况基本未知。此外，正如罗森鲍姆所说，许多补充与替代医学疗法“充其量不过是基于轶事证据，有时甚至是对所应用病症生物学的相当奇特的观点”。尽管缺乏数据，但预计2009年美国人在补充与替代医学方面的花费将超过420亿美元。作者以一名患者为例，介绍了三种曾被推荐用于脑瘫患儿的补充与替代医学疗法。本文回顾了关于这些疗法及其声称的益处的现有科学文献。文章最后讨论了开具上述疗法为何有悖于循证医学理念和医学伦理原则的原因。
