‘Wellness’ (or is that ‘Woo-Woo’?) Cancer Centres

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	Loretta Marron BSc articles by this author...
From a Skeptics Perspective: Loretta Marron, a science graduate with a business background, was Australian Skeptic of the Year for 2007 and in 2011. She edits the website www.healthinformation.com.au.

From that shock of their initial diagnosis to the completion of their last scheduled treatment, cancer patients put their lives on hold. 
On an emotional rollercoaster ride they may have feelings of confusion, anger, grief and despair, so for many of them, when the treatment is over, it is difficult to know where to start those first faltering steps into their new life after cancer. 
For the lucky ones, it can be a speedy journey along a smooth road to recovery, but for others a little help can make a big difference. 
For those who can’t be cured, it is a time of preparation and comfort.
 ‘Wellness’ centres can have an important role in helping cancer patients during and after their treatments, but most of them leave the door open to quackery. 
Two new Australian ‘Wellness’ centres attached to hospitals are due for completion early next decade.
We are now well into the 21^st century so shouldn’t they only be offering evidence-based care?

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After Olivia Newton-John recovered from breast cancer she worked tirelessly to raise funds for a ‘Wellness’ centre for the Austin Hospital, Victoria.  When interviewed on Talking Heads, she stated that her vision was to have “homeopathy, herbs, massage, acupuncture, meditation & spirituality”[i] under one roof.  Olivia is married to John Easterling, CEO, Amazon Herbs; a successful herbal remedies business.

For over a decade, on RPA (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, NSW), a case-based medical show, Prof Chris O’Brien, a neck and head surgeon, was often seen treating his patients.  During his career, he had conducted over 4000 operations to remove other people’s tumours.  Tragically, in 2006, he was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour and he died in 2009.  He was honoured with an Order of Australia (OA) and a state funeral. 

When interviewed on Sixty Minutes, Prof O’Brien stated that he had become “a big believer in complementary and alternative therapies”[ii].   While he continued to have conventional treatment, he also chose to be treated by a pseudo-scientifically trained Naturopath and was having a “special form of electrical acupuncture”[iii] which was supposed to energise him.  He spent many hours practicing transcendental meditation, was on a “very strict diet of fruit and vegetable juices with many vitamin supplements” including selenium and antioxidants.  He also took homeopathic remedies.  

You can also find him on Ian Gawler’s website where there is a photo of him alongside this controversial alternative cancer therapist[iv].

Any drug that can change the way your body works comes with risks.  According to Prof Ian Olver, Cancer Council of Australia[v], vitamins and supplements complicate cancer treatments and “can change the way the body metabolises other drugs and either makes those drugs ineffective or makes them toxic”.  Also according to the Annals of Oncology, antioxidant supplements do not prevent cancer while raising the risk of bladder cancer.[vi] 

The US based Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, considered the Gold Standard in ‘Wellness’ centres, offer courses on placebo therapies including reiki[vii] and reflexology.  Prof Edzard Ernst, Department of Complementary Medicine, Exeter University, UK, stated that “centres offering interventions to improve the length and quality of survival of cancer patients have a duty of care to ensure that what they offer is evidence-based.”  He also cautioned “against the inclusion of reiki, reflexology and homeopathy in any centre that is striving for effective healthcare”.

He is supported by Prof Michael Baum, whose research into tamoxifen “has contributed to the 30% fall in breast cancer mortality”[viii].  In May 2006 Prof Baum led a campaign calling for a homeopathy boycott[ix].  In a letter published in the TIMES he stated that homeopathy is “an implausible treatment for which over a dozen systematic reviews have failed to produce convincing evidence of effectiveness”.   

When asked about placebo therapies in ‘Wellness centres’, Prof Baum said that “It is unethical for modern medical practitioners to sink to this kind of deception that denies the patient his autonomy ...  I have little doubt that we share the same motives and compassion for our fellow citizens at the time of their sickness and vulnerability, but promoting placebos above the milk of human kindness will not help your cause”.

I have been given assurances from both RPA and Austin Health that their ‘Wellness’ centres will only provide interventions for which a good evidence-base exists, but without an appropriate code of contact, and with the potential for pressure from their financial donors, I am yet to be convinced.

References

i. Talking Heads, transcript, Olivia Newton-John, 13 July 2009
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/talkingheads/txt/s2617909.htm

ii. Sixty Minutes, Never say die, Chris O’Brien’s Story, April 29, 2007 http://sixtyminute.s.ninemsn.com.au/webchats/269920/never-say-die-chris-obriens-story

iii. The Australian, Living with cancer: A surgeon’s story, February 25, 2008 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/living-with-cancer-a-surgeons-story/story-e6frg8y6-1111115636776

iv. Professor Chris O’Brien & Dr Ian Gawler on the Conversation Hour , Gawler Foundation Media http://gawlerfoundationmedia.com.au/2008/05/27/prof-chris-obrien-dr-ian-gawler-on-the-conversation-hour/

v. Vitamin Supplements Complicate Cancer, ABC News, November 21, 2009

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/21/2749582.htm

vi. Antioxidant supplements raise risk of bladder cancer (Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdp286/).

vii. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, Reiki Professional Workshop
http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/58341.cfm?EventView=details&EventType=&CategoryID=all&SelectedDate=10%2F16%2F2009&EventID=5526

viii. Wikipedia, Emeritus Professor Michael Baum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Baum

ix. TIMES letter, Use of Alternative Medicines in the NHS, May 19, 2006 http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/PDF/Baum%20letter.pdf