Welcome!

We are Team Integrative Medicine and Cancer (IMAC), part of the Gemstone Honors Program class of 2010; and very simply, our project concerns exactly what our name suggests.

 

Some Background:

Every one in four deaths is caused by cancer, making it the second most common cause of death in the United States.  In 2007, an estimated 2.5 million cancer cases were diagnosed in the United States alone.  The National Institutes of Health estimates that about 206.3 billion dollars were spent on cancer-related costs in 2006. Cancer is a life-threatening disease that can affect anyone regardless of age, lifestyle, gender, or ethnicity.

 

Radiation and chemotherapy, common conventional cancer treatments, often kill healthy cells in addition to cancerous cells.  This causes many side effects, including hair loss, nausea, vomiting, fever, immune system vulnerability, and fatigue. Even if a patient’s cancerous tumors can be destroyed through treatment, the survivor’s quality of life is usually significantly decreased. Activities once taken for granted—eating, taking a walk outside, or working a full-time job—are often sacrificed for treatment.

 

Due to the negative side effects of conventional cancer treatments, many patients are turning to less-understood complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies.  One commonly available and frequently inexpensive form of CAM is herbal dietary supplements.  We will investigate breast cancer patients’ use and perception of herbal dietary supplements in the DC/Metro area.  We will also determine the metabolic effects of commonly used supplements on cancer cells in vitro.  This mixed-methods approach will provide a deep understanding of local breast cancer survivor perceptions of herbals and quantitative data regarding commonly used herbal dietary supplements.  Ultimately, we plan to publicize our results either through a peer-reviewed journal or through an informational campaign.

Check out our thesis proposal in the News and Documents tab for more information!