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Observational Study
. 2025 Mar 13;17(6):1012.
doi: 10.3390/nu17061012.

Multidisciplinary Integrative Medicine Approach for Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

Massimiliano Berretta  1   2   3 , Vincenzo Quagliariello  4 , Alessandro Ottaiano  5 , Mariachiara Santorsola  5 , Raffaele Di Francia  6 , Patrizia Carroccio  7 , Nicola Maurea  4 , Oreste Claudio Buonomo  8   9 , Gaetano Facchini  10 , Giordana Di Mauro  7 , Monica Montopoli  2   11 , Enrica Toscano  7 , Claudia Gelsomino  7 , Antonio Picone  3 , Tindara Franchina  3 , Paola Muscolino  7 , Alessia Bignucolo  1 , Gianluca Vanni  8 , Giuliana Ciappina  3 , Liliana Montella  10
Affiliations
Observational Study

Multidisciplinary Integrative Medicine Approach for Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

Massimiliano Berretta et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background: The use of complementary integrative medicine (CIM) by cancer patients is currently very common. The main reasons why patients turn to CIM are to improve quality of life (QoL) and support the immune system. Unfortunately, many patients rely on CIM self-prescription, neglecting the risk of interactions with anticancer treatments (ACTs). The primary objective is to demonstrate the feasibility of combining CIM and ACT in a multidisciplinary approach to improve the QoL of cancer patients and to reduce ACT's adverse events.

Methods: Cancer patients were treated with CIM by expert physicians. CIM mainly consisted of vitamins C and D, the medicinal mushrooms blend U-CARE, and probiotics administered alone or in combination. The patients were followed-up by physicians and data were recorded in a detailed shared file.

Results: A total of 54 cancer patients were treated with an integrative approach, especially during ACTs. The combination showed a good safety profile. No adverse events occurred in 92.6% of patients, whereas only 7.4% of patients experienced gastrointestinal or liver toxicity from the CIM approach. The main benefit of the CIM approach was improved fatigue and QoL, and this was mainly achieved by the concomitant use of polytherapy-based complementary medicine (PCM) and U-CARE. The toxicity improvement was mainly associated with the use of solely U-CARE.

Conclusions: These results highlight the feasibility of the CIM approach in cancer patients addressed by a multidisciplinary team of experts in the field. The patient-centered and evidence-based approach of CIM is an example of the comprehensive and coordinated strategy pursued by the EU in its programmatic document against cancer aiming to focus on the QoL of patients and to avoid potentially harmful CIM self-prescription.

Keywords: cancer patients; cancer-related fatigue; complementary integrative medicine; multidisciplinary approaches; quality of life; survival.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kaplan–Meier curves illustrating survival stratified by the following factors are presented: (A) lifestyle, (B) PS ECOG at cancer diagnosis, (C) PS ECOG at the start of complementary therapy, (D) best response, (E) cancer type, and (F) type of complementary therapy. Log-rank test p-values are reported in the corresponding figures. The number of events is indicated at the bottom of each figure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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