Korean Medicine, Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) Therapy after Gastrectomy of Gastric Cancer in a Hospital

위암 환자의 위 절제수술 후 한의학과 대체요법 사용실태 - 지방소재 일개병원의 경험 -

Objectives : Cancer patients who are afraid of unpleasant therapy and doubt a perfect cure often seek out traditional Korean medicine or many other kinds of complementary and alterative medicine (CAM) instead. This study was carried out in order to learn the prevalence and kinds of the traditional Korean medicine and CAM to evaluate awareness of and attitude toward it. Methods : 213 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone surgery in the department of gastrointestinal surgery and visited for routine follow-up from November to December of 2004 were included. A questionnaire survey was done by trained interviewers for CAM and demographic information. Results : 96.7% of patients had experience with CAM. The kinds and frequencies of CAM were diet and nutrition 21.0%, folk remedy 21.0%, pharmacological treatment 13.5%, oriental medicine 5.3% and mind-body intervention 1.4%. 56.8% of patients had experienced 2-6 kinds of CAM, 37.4% more than 7. Among diet and nutrition, ginseng (62.9%) was highest, followed by ox leg bone soup (50.8%) and pumpkin (31.5%). Among the folk remedies, elm tree was highest at 46.5%, followed by phellinus linteus (Sang-Whang) at 26.8% and ganoderma lucidum (Young-Gee) 20.7%.satisfaction with CAM was relatively low (43.2%), many patients (78.2%) replied that they would use it continuously. Conclusion : Most patients had experience with many kinds of CAM, but didn't discuss it with medical doctors. If scientific study proves whether or not each kind of CAM is actually effective ondisease, it will help to improve the health of patients and prevent the inappropriate usage and cost.