Background: To provide prospective comparative data describing the profiles of two patient populations attending conventional or complementary medicine institutions. Patients and Methods: A registration study was set up in an oncology ward at the Institute for Medical Oncology (IMO) of the University Hospital in Bern, and at the Lukas Clinic (LC) for Anthroposophical Cancer Treatment in Arlesheim, Switzerland. The same eligibility criteria were applied to enrol into the study all newly referred or newly diagnosed patients with advanced cancer over a 2-year period. Their socio- demographic and clinical characteristics at presentation have been compared between the two institutions. Results: Patients at LC are primarily females, of higher educational level, and living in an urban environment. Patients at LC are also more frequently of poorer performance status but present with less comorbidity and a longer interval between diagnosis of metastatic disease and accrual into the study. Conclusion: This study suggests that the respective merits of these two schools of medicine can be assessed successfully only through a concrete research partnership based on rigorously controlled clinical trials.
Overall there is confirming evidence for the hypothesised structure of the SELT-M, especially for the newly developed module on spiritual QL. This module may be used as a module together with other cancer specific QL questionnaires.
Background: In Switzerland, anthroposophical medicine has a long tradition, offers a special tumor treatment, is frequently used by cancer patients, and has been approved in 1998 by the Swiss government to be reimbursed by health insurances. This popularity contrasts with the fact that to date no sound evidence of the effectiveness of anthroposophical cancer treatments exists. In this study we draw a profile on a population of patients with advanced disease attending treatment at the anthroposophical Lukas Clinic (LC) regarding patients’ attitudes, experiences and expectations. Patients and Methods: All newly admitted patients with a diagnosis of locally advanced or metastasized breast, gastrointestinal, lung or gynecological cancer were recruited into a registration study. In parallel, a population of patients with the same inclusion criteria attending a conventional institution (Institute of Medical Oncology, University of Bern, IMO) was taken as a reference sample. Data were collected by means of a fully structured interview, and simple descriptive statistics was used for evaluation. Results: 221 and 280 patients accrued at LC and at IMO, respectively. LC patients were mainly women (87%), had a good education (36% with completed college or university education), and were admitted on average 3.5 months after the diagnosis of advanced disease. With respect to their advanced cancer, they put very little hope in the effectiveness of conventional medicine, but expected great help from anthroposophical treatment. Compared with the reference population they cared more for psychological well-being and quality of life, but an important factor for choosing treatment at the LC was clearly the patients’ strong belief in the effectiveness of anthroposophical treatment. Conclusions: With its holistic approach, anthroposophical medicine intends to provide tumor treatment together with supportive care throughout the course of the illness. To some patients this is an attractive alternative to conventional medicine, which too often focuses on tumor treatment only. Conventional medicine should clearly be advised to give higher priority to supportive care already early in the course of the disease. We acknowledge some patients’ need for a more holistic approach, but anthroposophical medicine or any other providers of alternative or complementary cancer therapies should evaluate treatment effectiveness more thoroughly according to the principles of evidence-based medicine.
A tension pneumothorax is one of the main causes of cardiac arrest in the initial postoperative period after thoracic surgery. Tension pneumothorax and cardiac herniation must be taken into account in hemodynamically unstable patients after pneumonectomy. We report an unusual case of successful treatment of acute tension pneumothorax following cardiac herniation and intrathoracic bleeding after pneumonectomy.
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