Recurrence of Breast Cancer After Primary Treatment: A Matched Comparison Study of Disease-Free Survival in Women Who Do and Do Not Receive Adjunctive Naturopathic Oncology Care

Abstract

Purpose: To compare disease free survival experienced by women who received usual oncologic care compared to a cohort of women who received naturopathic oncology care in addition to usual care. Methods: Women with breast cancer who received naturopathic oncology (NO) care in Western Washington State (WA) (N = 176) were recruited to a prospective study of clinical health-related quality of life outcomes and then matched to women who received usual care (UC) only (N = 334). Results: Among 510 women with breast cancer stages 1 to 3, a total of 50 women (10%) experienced a disease-free survival (DFS) ending event within the observation period; 23 (6.8% of those in the UC cohort, and 27 (15.3% of those in the NO cohort ( P < .05). Although, women in the 2 cohorts received similar surgical, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment, women with breast cancer who received naturopathic oncology adjunctive care were less likely to use anti-estrogen therapy, and experienced poorer DFS (logrank test, P < .05). However, differences in DFS could not be shown to be due to cohort differences in anti-estrogen therapy, baseline HRQOL, or naturopathic oncology therapies prescribed. The stage 3 women in the naturopathic oncology group had more advanced disease at diagnosis. They were more likely to have 5 or more metastatic lymph nodes at baseline (18.5%) compared to their usual care matched control group (13%). Women in the naturopathic oncology group also had higher grade tumors at diagnosis. Conclusions: Results show that recurrence of breast cancer was associated with more advanced malignant lymph node involvement; and that naturopathic oncology services provided in 2009-2015 did not improve disease-free survival in these high-risk breast cancer patients.

Integrative Oncology’s 30-Year Anniversary: What Have We Achieved? A North American Naturopathic Oncology Perspective

“…Between 2009 and 2015 a match-controlled longitudinal outcomes study of 750 women with breast cancer was conducted, and later published. 7 Then, in 2015 two naturopathic medical colleges, the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and Bastyr University, partnered to develop a naturopathic oncology clinical research site consortium consisting of 12 North American clinics that provide cutting edge naturopathic oncology, typically adjuvant to standard conventional therapies to treat patients with advanced cancer. The Canadian /U.S.…”

“…Between 2009 and 2015 a match-controlled longitudinal outcomes study of 750 women with breast cancer was conducted, and later published. 7 …”

Disease Free Survival in Breast Cancer Patients Who Receive Naturopathic Oncology Care

“…To the editor: In a recent editorial, 1 Block discussed our finding that women who received naturopathic oncology care in addition to usual care experienced higher rates of recurrence compared to women in the usual care cohort. 2 What explains these surprising results?…”

Does Adjunctive Naturopathic Care Decrease Survival Rates in Breast Cancer Patients?

“…A recently published collaborative study, organized by Bastyr University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Treatment Center, examined whether naturopathic care given adjunctively to conventional cancer treatment improves diseasefree survival in breast cancer patients. 1 This careful study, part of a series of articles, [2][3][4][5][6][7][8] concluded that patients who chose naturopathic oncology (NO) had worse disease-free survival than a comparable cohort of patients who received usual conventional cancer care (UC) without consulting naturopaths. The authors are to be congratulated for their thorough work, and for straightforwardly publishing a negative result that raises significant questions for integrative oncology as a whole, and particularly for complex integrative systems like naturopathy that routinely incorporate multiple lifestyle and herbal or supplemental interventions.…”

“…In this matched cohort study, 1 patients with stages 0-III breast cancer in western Washington State, USA, were recruited. A total of 176 women who were receiving care for their cancer at any of 5 local naturopathic clinics were matched with women who were using UC.…”