Alternative medicines and complementary medicines recently have been described as all treatments that traditionally have not been offered to patients in hospital-based oncology practices, including dietary modification and supplementation, herbal products, acupuncture, massage, exercise, and psychological and mind-body therapies. They differ in that alternative therapy is often used instead of standard or “mainstream” medical care, whereas complementary medicine is used together with standard care.
Alternative medicine is often thought of as a means of cure, while the goal of complementary medicine is usually improving quality of life through the reduction of physical symptoms and emotional dis-tress while someone undergoes or finishes traditional cancer treatments.