Abrams Donald, McCulloch Michael, Cohen Misha, Liaw Mike, Silverman Deborah, Wilson Carla
1 UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
2 Pine Street Foundation, San Anselmo, CA, USA.
Integr Cancer Ther. 2018 Mar;17(1):92-98. doi: 10.1177/1534735416684946. Epub 2017 Jan 5.
Many cancer patients seek traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the prevalence varying with diagnosis, comorbidities, and demographics. Interventions sought include acupuncture, massage, herbs, diet, and exercise, usually combined with conventional therapies. It is not known what proportion of TCM practitioners care for cancer patients, their cancer specific training or caseload, what interventions they employ, their outcomes, and their communication patterns with conventional oncologists.
A survey was mailed to all 2213 licensed acupuncturists in the 9-county San Francisco Bay Area gathering descriptive statistics.
A total of 472 (21%) responded by mail or web-based Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) tool. Most respondents (77%) reported caring for patients with cancer, with 29% reporting having 6 to 10 years of practice experience, and 44.2% having 0 to 20 hours of training specific to the needs of patients with cancer. Improving quality of life was reported by 94% as what their treatment offered cancer patients as well as the area where treatment was felt to have the greatest impact. The most useful TCM modalities were acupuncture (98%), herbs (79%), diet (72%), moxibustion (46%), and meditation instruction (44%). Absence of adverse reactions was noted by 95%. Ninety-one percent reported "never" or "hardly ever" having been contacted by patients' oncologists to discuss treatment.
Many acupuncturists seeing cancer patients have significant clinical experience and have sought specialized training. Improved communication is needed between TCM practitioners and oncologists sharing care of cancer patients.
许多癌症患者寻求中医治疗，其普及率因诊断结果、合并症和人口统计学特征而异。寻求的干预措施包括针灸、按摩、草药、饮食和运动，通常与传统疗法相结合。目前尚不清楚有多少中医从业者治疗癌症患者，他们接受的癌症专项培训情况或工作量如何，他们采用何种干预措施，治疗效果如何，以及他们与传统肿瘤学家的沟通模式。
向旧金山湾区9个县的所有2213名持牌针灸师邮寄了一份调查问卷，以收集描述性统计数据。
共有472人（21%）通过邮件或基于网络的研究电子数据采集（REDCap）工具回复。大多数受访者（77%）报告曾治疗过癌症患者，29%报告有6至10年的执业经验，44.2%接受过0至20小时针对癌症患者需求的专项培训。94%的受访者表示他们的治疗为癌症患者带来了生活质量的改善，这也是他们认为治疗产生最大影响的方面。最常用的中医治疗方法是针灸（98%）、草药（79%）、饮食（72%）、艾灸（46%）和冥想指导（44%）。95%的受访者指出没有不良反应。91%的受访者报告患者的肿瘤学家“从未”或“几乎从未”联系他们讨论治疗。
许多治疗癌症患者的针灸师有丰富的临床经验并接受过专业培训。中医从业者与共同治疗癌症患者的肿瘤学家之间需要加强沟通。
