UPFRONT | Roundup RESEARCH $3M funding for Canada-U.S. study on naturopathic cancer treatment Canadian and American health-care professionals will work together to study the effectiveness of ad-vanced integrative oncology (AIO) treatment for patients with late stage cancer. AIO treatment includes elements of conventional and naturo-pathic medicine. The funding was an-nounced recently by the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre (OICC), an arm of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM) and the Bastyr University Research Insti-tute in Washington State. The $3 million grant, which came from an anon-ymous private Canadian foundation, will fund the Canadian/U.S. Integrative Oncology Study (CU-SIOS). This is the larg-est-ever North American observational study to as-sess integrative oncology in late-stage cancer patients. CUSIOS will observe and measure the overall survival of a cohort of late stage (III and IV) cancer patients who receive AIO treatments, and describe integrative therapies pro-vided by naturopathic doctors across the cohort. A total of 400 people with advanced breast, colorectal, pancreatic and ovarian cancer will be stud-ied in seven clinics across North America over three years. Each selected site provides comprehensive, whole-person care in natur-opathic oncology, applying science-based treatment for late-stage cancer patients. Integrative oncology aims to combine the best of 12 Canadian Chiropractor May 2015 EDUCATION CMCC offers mental health support for staff, faculty The Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) has joined a growing number of Canadian organizations embracing the issue of mental health in the workplace and doing something about it. CMCC manager, staff and faculty are getting training on a Mental Health Commission of Canada program called, Mental Health First Aid, designed to provide help to an individual who might be developing a mental health problem or going through a mental health crisis. CMCC’s Drs. Craig Jacobs and Janet D’Arcy received the training in October and are now providing a seies of training sessions for staff and faculty at the college. The objective is to build a team of individuals who can ensure CMCC is well-equipped to offer mental health support to the community and even beyond, the CMCC said. “The first sessions were held in February with more scheduled for April and May,” said CMCC president Dr. David Wickes. “It’s an important part of looking after our community and extending the service we provide to students, staff and patients.” According to mental health statistics, one in three Canadians will suffer a mental health problem at some point in their lives. While thousands of people across the country know how to provide first aid to someone with a physical injury, fewer people are able to recognise the signs of someone needing mental health support, the CMCC said. “The nature of the training is much like physical first aid. The goal is to offer a person immediate assistance until they can receive appropriate professional treatment or until the crisis is over,” explained CMCC human resources director Evelyn Humphries. “It is designed to help participants define and identify signs of mental health problems and help individuals to access the professional help they may need.” www.canadianchiropractor.ca con v entional and whole-person naturopathic care seamlessly and safely to: improve survival, en-hance quality of life, reduce side effects from conven-tional treatment and help prevent recurrence. AIO therapies used by naturopathic doctors for late-stage cancer are aimed at multiple mechanisms to slow tumour progression, prevent metastatic spread and improve survival. The therapies are varia-ble but may include intra-venous vitamin C, intrave-nous ar temisinin, intravenous dichloroace-tate, mistletoe, hyperther-mia, nutritional protocols and the use of immuno-modulatory, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory natural health products. “The results of this study will provide valuable insight on the role of natur-opathic medicine in cancer care and will lead to the conduct of more rigorous randomized controlled tri-als,” said Dugald Seely Canadian lead investigator for CUSIOS. “We have chosen to study the outcomes of na-turopathic oncology because this area of integra-tive oncology is currently leading the field in the ap-plication of advanced natu-ral medicine therapeutics,” said Leanna Standish, professor at Bastyr Univer-sity Research Institute, and American lead investigator of CUSIOS. Standish added, “We will collect survival outcomes on late-stage cancer patients treated at multiple naturo-pathic oncology clinics in North America in order to address the fundamentally important question of whether or not AIO has a beneficial impact on sur-vival.” Bob Bernhardt, presi-dent and CEO of CCNM added, “It is through exem-plary research collabora-tions such as CUSIOS that we continue to assess the benefits and advance the clinical evidence-base for naturopathic medicine, making it more integral to our health-care system and accessible to Canadians.” Bastyr University presi-dent Daniel K. Church welcomed the collaboration with “the brightest minds in Canada on such an im-portant study.”
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor May 2015: Page 12
