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Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Therapeutic Massage for Psychological Well-being in Geriatric Oncology
Published on: May 22, 2026
Complementary approaches to palliative oncological care
Simone B Zappa1, Barrie R Cassileth
1Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA.
Abstract:
The popularity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased tremendously in recent years. Thus, it is imperative to distinguish between alternative therapies that can be dangerous and complementary therapies that are primarily palliative and augment conventional treatment. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center's Integrative Medicine Service offers complementary therapies to patients in an attempt to improve quality of life and provide symptom management. In addition to clinical services, it also provides education to health care professionals and the public and performs clinical and laboratory research on complementary modalities and the antitumor properties of botanicals. If CAM is to be accepted by mainstream medicine, research must be done usingstandard research methodologies.
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