[{"id":"five-htp-supplements","name":"5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan)","tldr":"5-HTP is sold for sleep, mood and appetite. Trials are small and mixed and it did not help hot flushes. It matters for two groups: people on antidepressants, where it can add to serotonin and cause a dangerous reaction, and people with neuroendocrine tumours, because it distorts the urine test used to monitor them.","route":"/technologies/five-htp-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"five-htp-supplements","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Neuroendocrine tumours"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Neuroendocrine tumours","href":"/cancers/neuroendocrine/","tip":"A family of usually slow-growing tumours that start in hormone-producing cells of the gut, pancreas and lungs. They pioneered the idea of using the same molecule to see a tumour on a scan and then to treat it with radiation."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"714-x","name":"714-X","tldr":"714-X is a camphor-based injection made in Quebec and promoted as a way to restore the immune system against cancer. No study of it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal, and the FDA has banned its import into the United States.","route":"/technologies/714-x/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"714-x","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"acupuncture-nausea","name":"Acupuncture and acupressure for chemotherapy nausea","tldr":"Stimulating the P6 point on the inner wrist, with needles, electrical stimulation or a pressure band, adds a small further reduction in chemotherapy vomiting on top of modern anti-sickness drugs. It is safe and cheap, and guidelines say it can be offered.","route":"/technologies/acupuncture-nausea/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"acupuncture-nausea","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"acupuncture-aromatase-inhibitor-arthralgia","name":"Acupuncture for aromatase-inhibitor joint pain","tldr":"Joint pain and stiffness are the main reason women stop aromatase-inhibitor tablets early. In a large randomised trial, twelve weeks of acupuncture reduced that pain more than sham needling or no treatment, and the benefit lasted after the sessions ended.","route":"/technologies/acupuncture-aromatase-inhibitor-arthralgia/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"acupuncture-aromatase-inhibitor-arthralgia","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"acupuncture-chemotherapy-neuropathy","name":"Acupuncture for chemotherapy-induced neuropathy","tldr":"Numb, tingling or painful hands and feet after taxanes, platinum or bortezomib have no proven preventive treatment. Small trials suggest acupuncture may ease the symptoms, but they are too small and inconsistent to be sure, so it is an option to try inside a trial or with careful tracking rather than an established treatment.","route":"/technologies/acupuncture-chemotherapy-neuropathy/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"acupuncture-chemotherapy-neuropathy","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"acupuncture-xerostomia","name":"Acupuncture for dry mouth after head and neck radiotherapy","tldr":"Radiotherapy to the head and neck can permanently dry the mouth. A randomised trial in the United States and China found that acupuncture given during radiotherapy reduced dry mouth a year later compared with standard care, an effect that needs confirming.","route":"/technologies/acupuncture-xerostomia/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"acupuncture-xerostomia","sections":["supportive-care","radiation","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Nasopharyngeal carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."},{"label":"Nasopharyngeal carcinoma","href":"/cancers/nasopharyngeal/","tip":"A cancer at the back of the nose caused largely by the Epstein-Barr virus and common in southern China and Southeast Asia. Radiation cures most early cases; adding chemotherapy and, recently, PD-1 immunotherapy has improved outcomes in advanced disease, and a blood test for viral DNA can detect it early."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"acupuncture-hot-flushes","name":"Acupuncture for hot flushes on endocrine therapy","tldr":"Hot flushes on tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors are common and hormone replacement is off the table. Acupuncture reduced flushes in several randomised trials, in one about as well as the drug gabapentin and with fewer side effects, though sham-controlled results are mixed.","route":"/technologies/acupuncture-hot-flushes/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"acupuncture-hot-flushes","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"agaricus-blazei","name":"Agaricus blazei mushroom","tldr":"Agaricus blazei is a Brazilian mushroom sold in Japan and elsewhere as a cancer remedy. Small studies suggest better quality of life during chemotherapy, but none showed longer survival, and liver damage and deaths have been reported in people taking it. Some samples contained high levels of arsenic.","route":"/technologies/agaricus-blazei/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"agaricus-blazei","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ahcc-shiitake-extract","name":"AHCC (active hexose correlated compound)","tldr":"AHCC is a proprietary extract of shiitake mushroom mycelium taken to prevent and treat cancer. Early studies hint at fewer chemotherapy side effects and better outcomes after liver cancer surgery, but in a multicentre study in early prostate cancer it did not lower the blood marker it was meant to. It may weaken aromatase inhibitors.","route":"/technologies/ahcc-shiitake-extract/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"ahcc-shiitake-extract","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"aloe-vera","name":"Aloe vera","tldr":"Aloe vera gel is widely used on skin reddened by radiotherapy, but trials of that use gave mixed results. Small studies suggest an aloe mouthwash may ease mouth ulcers from treatment. Aloe taken by mouth can cause liver injury and low potassium, and aloe injections sold as cancer treatments have caused deaths.","route":"/technologies/aloe-vera/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"aloe-vera","sections":["supportive-care","radiation","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"alpha-lipoic-acid","name":"Alpha-lipoic acid","tldr":"Alpha-lipoic acid is an antioxidant sold for nerve pain and blood sugar. Small studies hint it might ease paclitaxel nerve damage or radiotherapy mouth soreness, but none is large enough to rely on, and as an antioxidant it could in theory blunt chemotherapy or radiotherapy. It can cause dangerously low blood sugar in some people, and accidental swallowing by children has caused seizures.","route":"/technologies/alpha-lipoic-acid/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"alpha-lipoic-acid","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment","name":"Alternative medicine used instead of standard treatment","tldr":"Complementary approaches used alongside treatment can help with symptoms. Choosing an alternative therapy instead of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or hormone therapy is a different decision: in a national US database, people who did so were two and a half times as likely to die within the study period, and more than five times as likely with breast cancer.","route":"/technologies/alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer","Colorectal cancer","Non-small-cell lung cancer","Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."},{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"american-ginseng-fatigue","name":"American ginseng for cancer-related fatigue","tldr":"In a randomised placebo-controlled trial of 364 people, eight weeks of Wisconsin American ginseng modestly improved cancer-related fatigue, mainly in those still on treatment. The 2024 fatigue guideline says it may be offered during treatment; quality of the product matters.","route":"/technologies/american-ginseng-fatigue/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"american-ginseng-fatigue","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hair-antiandrogens-alopecia","name":"Antiandrogens for hair: spironolactone, finasteride, dutasteride","tldr":"Because hair thinning on endocrine therapy follows the pattern of androgenetic alopecia, the drugs used for that pattern are sometimes added. The evidence in cancer survivors cannot separate them from minoxidil, the one guideline that addresses spironolactone says not to use it routinely, and an expert panel advised against finasteride and dutasteride in breast cancer.","route":"/technologies/hair-antiandrogens-alopecia/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hair-antiandrogens-alopecia","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"antineoplastons","name":"Antineoplastons (Burzynski clinic)","tldr":"Antineoplastons are peptide fractions first isolated from urine and given at one private clinic in Texas for nearly fifty years, mostly to children with brain tumours. Despite dozens of registered trials, none has been published in full, no independent group has confirmed benefit, and the treatment is expensive and causes serious salt imbalance.","route":"/technologies/antineoplastons/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"antineoplastons","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Glioma & glioblastoma","Medulloblastoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Glioma & glioblastoma","href":"/cancers/glioblastoma/","tip":"Gliomas are now diagnosed by molecular class, and three classes got their first targeted drugs in 2024-25 (vorasidenib for IDH-mutant glioma, tovorafenib for BRAF-altered paediatric glioma, dordaviprone for H3 K27M). Glioblastoma is the hardest to treat: surgery, radiotherapy with temozolomide and tumour treating fields are its backbone, with CAR-T into the brain and focused ultrasound in trials."},{"label":"Medulloblastoma","href":"/cancers/medulloblastoma/","tip":"Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant childhood brain tumour, arising in the cerebellum. Surgery, radiation to the whole brain and spine, and chemotherapy cure about 70%, at a heavy cost to thinking and growth; treatment is now being tailored to four molecular subgroups so that the low-risk children get less."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"apple-cider-vinegar","name":"Apple cider vinegar","tldr":"Apple cider vinegar is promoted online as a natural remedy for skin cancer and other cancers. There is no scientific evidence that it prevents or cures any cancer. Applied to the skin it has caused chemical burns and scarring, and raw or home-fermented versions have carried infections.","route":"/technologies/apple-cider-vinegar/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"apple-cider-vinegar","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"aromatherapy-cancer","name":"Aromatherapy","tldr":"Scented essential oils, alone or with massage, are pleasant and may briefly ease anxiety or nausea, but the trials are small and a Cochrane review found no reliable evidence that adding aromatherapy to massage does anything more than massage alone.","route":"/technologies/aromatherapy-cancer/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"aromatherapy-cancer","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"artemisia-annua-artemisinin","name":"Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood) and artemisinin","tldr":"Sweet wormwood is the source of artemisinin, a standard malaria drug, and is promoted online as a cancer cure. Small safety studies of the derivative artesunate in advanced cancer found it tolerable, but in other studies it produced no responses. Hepatitis has been reported with artemisinin supplements and artemisia tea.","route":"/technologies/artemisia-annua-artemisinin/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"artemisia-annua-artemisinin","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ashwagandha","name":"Ashwagandha","tldr":"Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb taken for stress, sleep and energy. Small studies in breast cancer reported less fatigue during chemotherapy, but liver injury has been reported, and it may raise testosterone, so men with hormone-sensitive prostate cancer are advised to avoid it.","route":"/technologies/ashwagandha/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"ashwagandha","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer","HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."},{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"asian-ginseng","name":"Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng)","tldr":"Asian ginseng is taken as a tonic for energy and immunity. Whether it helps cancer-related fatigue is unclear, unlike American ginseng, which has a positive trial; it can interact with blood thinners and diabetes medicines and should be stopped a week before surgery.","route":"/technologies/asian-ginseng/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"asian-ginseng","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"astragalus-root","name":"Astragalus root","tldr":"Astragalus is a root used in Chinese medicine as a tonic and given in China as an injection alongside chemotherapy. Many studies, mostly of poor design, report less fatigue, nausea and gut toxicity, which is not yet proof. It lowered levels of the transplant drug tacrolimus in one patient and may interact with hormone and blood-thinning treatments.","route":"/technologies/astragalus-root/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"astragalus-root","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ayurvedic-medicine-cancer","name":"Ayurvedic medicine and cancer","tldr":"Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, offers diet, yoga, herbs and mineral preparations. Yoga has good evidence in its own right; the herbal and mineral remedies have not been shown to treat cancer, and a fifth of products sold online contained lead, mercury or arsenic in one study.","route":"/technologies/ayurvedic-medicine-cancer/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"ayurvedic-medicine-cancer","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"scutellaria-baicalensis","name":"Baikal skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis)","tldr":"Baikal skullcap is a Chinese herb used for hepatitis, infections and cancer, and was one of the herbs in PC-SPES. Its compounds kill cancer cells in the laboratory, but it has not been tested as a cancer treatment in people, and formulas containing it have caused acute liver injury. It lowered statin levels in healthy volunteers.","route":"/technologies/scutellaria-baicalensis/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"scutellaria-baicalensis","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ban-xia-xie-xin-tang","name":"Ban Xia Xie Xin Tang (Hangeshashinto)","tldr":"Ban Xia Xie Xin Tang, known in Japan as hangeshashinto, is a seven-herb Chinese and Japanese formula for indigestion. Small studies suggest it may help prevent delayed diarrhoea from irinotecan, radiation bowel inflammation and mouth ulcers from chemotherapy, but larger and more rigorous trials are needed.","route":"/technologies/ban-xia-xie-xin-tang/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"ban-xia-xie-xin-tang","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","radiation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"berberine","name":"Berberine","tldr":"Berberine is a plant compound used in Chinese medicine and sold for blood sugar and cholesterol. In a placebo-controlled trial in China, it lowered the chance of bowel polyps coming back after removal. It has not been tested as a cancer treatment, and it raises levels of some drugs, including tacrolimus and ciclosporin.","route":"/technologies/berberine/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"berberine","sections":["supportive-care","prevention"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"beta-carotene-supplements","name":"Beta-carotene supplements","tldr":"Beta-carotene, the orange pigment in carrots, was tested in large trials as a way to prevent cancer. In men who smoked it increased lung cancer rather than preventing it, and the United States Preventive Services Task Force recommends against taking it to prevent cancer. Eating the vegetables that contain it is a different thing and is good for you.","route":"/technologies/beta-carotene-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"beta-carotene-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","prevention"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Lung cancer","href":"/cancers/lung-cancer/","tip":"Lung cancer splits into non-small-cell disease, about 85 percent of it, and small-cell disease, which was 6.6 percent of English cases in 2024 and 9.1 percent of Welsh ones (National Lung Cancer Audit, State of the Nation 2026); the two behave and are treated very differently. Screening, staging and the things both types share are common ground; the rest belongs to each subtype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"beta-elemene","name":"Beta-elemene","tldr":"Beta-elemene is a plant compound given as an injection in China alongside chemotherapy and eaten in herbs by people hoping it cures cancer. Trials so far are of poor quality; a review suggests it may help chemotherapy work in lung cancer, which controlled trials have not confirmed.","route":"/technologies/beta-elemene/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"beta-elemene","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"bimatoprost-eyelash-regrowth","name":"Bimatoprost for eyelash and eyebrow regrowth","tldr":"Eyelashes and eyebrows often fall out with chemotherapy and can be slow to return. Bimatoprost, a glaucoma eye drop approved for thin lashes, applied along the lash line each night increased lash length and thickness in a randomised trial that included people after chemotherapy.","route":"/technologies/bimatoprost-eyelash-regrowth/","status":"approved","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"bimatoprost-eyelash-regrowth","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":["2008"]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"year":{"facet":"year","value":"2008"},"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":2008}},{"id":"bitter-melon","name":"Bitter melon (Momordica charantia)","tldr":"Bitter melon is a vegetable used in folk medicine for diabetes and cancer. In a study of women with cervical cancer it had no effect on the immune cells it was meant to boost, and there is no trial showing it treats cancer. Extracts and large amounts of juice have caused heart rhythm problems, stomach ulcers and kidney inflammation in case reports.","route":"/technologies/bitter-melon/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"bitter-melon","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"black-cohosh","name":"Black cohosh","tldr":"Black cohosh is a root extract sold for menopausal hot flushes, and women on tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors often try it. Placebo-controlled trials in women treated for breast cancer gave mixed results, and rare cases of serious liver injury have been reported.","route":"/technologies/black-cohosh/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"black-cohosh","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"black-salve-escharotics","name":"Black salve and other escharotic pastes","tldr":"Black salve is a corrosive paste containing bloodroot and zinc chloride sold online to 'draw out' skin cancers. It burns whatever it touches, leaves disfiguring scars, does not reliably remove the cancer, and has let melanomas spread while people believed they were cured.","route":"/technologies/black-salve-escharotics/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"black-salve-escharotics","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Basal cell carcinoma","Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","Melanoma","Skin cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Basal cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/basal-cell-carcinoma/","tip":"Basal cell carcinoma is a skin cancer and the most common cancer of all, caused by sun exposure and almost never life-threatening. Nearly all are removed surgically; the rare advanced cases are treated with drugs that block the hedgehog signalling pathway, and with immunotherapy if those fail."},{"label":"Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/cutaneous-scc/","tip":"Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma is a sun-related skin cancer with over a million US cases a year, almost all cured by removing them. The 2 to 5% that grow deep or spread respond to PD-1 immunotherapy (cemiplimab, pembrolizumab), which is now also given after surgery in high-risk cases; transplant recipients cannot safely receive it."},{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Skin cancer","href":"/cancers/skin-cancer/","tip":"Skin cancer covers the very common and rarely dangerous basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the less common but more serious melanoma, and rarer tumours such as Merkel cell carcinoma and Kaposi sarcoma. Almost all of it is caused by ultraviolet light and most of it is found and cured by simple surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"nigella-sativa-black-seed","name":"Black seed (Nigella sativa) and thymoquinone","tldr":"Black seed is a cooking spice and traditional remedy, also promoted against cancer. Small trials found that the seeds lowered fever with low white cells in children with brain cancers and that a gel reduced radiation skin reactions in breast cancer, but larger studies are needed. High doses may harm the liver, and it may weaken warfarin.","route":"/technologies/nigella-sativa-black-seed/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"nigella-sativa-black-seed","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"scorpion-venom-escozul","name":"Blue scorpion venom (Escozul, Vidatox)","tldr":"Venom from the Cuban blue scorpion is sold as Escozul and a homeopathic version, Vidatox, with claims that it treats cancer. The manufacturer's research has never been published in a peer-reviewed journal, Cuba rejected Escozul in 2009 for lack of clinical data, and a man with lung cancer died after using a scorpion venom extract. A purified venom peptide is a separate product in proper trials.","route":"/technologies/scorpion-venom-escozul/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"scorpion-venom-escozul","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"boswellia","name":"Boswellia (frankincense) extracts","tldr":"Boswellia, the resin known as frankincense, is used for arthritis and inflammation. Early studies suggest it may reduce brain swelling after radiotherapy for brain tumours and skin damage from breast radiotherapy, and a formula including it eased aromatase-inhibitor joint pain, but these need larger trials before anyone can rely on them.","route":"/technologies/boswellia/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"boswellia","sections":["supportive-care","radiation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Glioma & glioblastoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Glioma & glioblastoma","href":"/cancers/glioblastoma/","tip":"Gliomas are now diagnosed by molecular class, and three classes got their first targeted drugs in 2024-25 (vorasidenib for IDH-mutant glioma, tovorafenib for BRAF-altered paediatric glioma, dordaviprone for H3 K27M). Glioblastoma is the hardest to treat: surgery, radiotherapy with temozolomide and tumour treating fields are its backbone, with CAR-T into the brain and focused ultrasound in trials."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"bromelain","name":"Bromelain (pineapple enzyme)","tldr":"Bromelain is an enzyme from pineapple stems used for swelling, pain and wound clean-up. In cancer the evidence is a mixed formula for aromatase-inhibitor joint pain and a single case report, so its anti-cancer claims are untested. It can cause allergic reactions and may increase bleeding with blood thinners.","route":"/technologies/bromelain/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"bromelain","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"bu-zhong-yi-qi-tang","name":"Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang (Hochuekkito)","tldr":"Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang is an eight-herb Chinese formula for fatigue and weakness, commonly prescribed to people with lung cancer in Taiwan. Small studies suggest less fatigue, better quality of life and less weight loss in cancer, but large well-designed trials have not been done. Nausea and bloating have been reported.","route":"/technologies/bu-zhong-yi-qi-tang/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"bu-zhong-yi-qi-tang","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"budwig-diet","name":"Budwig diet (flaxseed oil and cottage cheese)","tldr":"The Budwig diet, devised in the 1950s, is promoted as a cancer cure based on daily flaxseed oil mixed with cottage cheese, a restrictive diet, sunbathing and often coffee enemas. No trial has ever been published, there is no evidence it prevents or treats cancer, and delaying standard treatment for it can have serious consequences.","route":"/technologies/budwig-diet/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"budwig-diet","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"calcium-supplements","name":"Calcium supplements during and after cancer treatment","tldr":"Calcium, often with vitamin D, is widely taken to protect bones during hormone treatment for breast or prostate cancer, but the evidence that supplements alone prevent bone loss in these settings is insufficient. High-dose supplements carry risks, including kidney stones and possibly stroke, and calcium can raise blood calcium in people taking tamoxifen.","route":"/technologies/calcium-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"calcium-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hair-camouflage-and-restoration","name":"Camouflage and restoration: fibres, micropigmentation, transplantation","tldr":"When density has not come back, the options are to hide the gap or to move hair into it. Keratin fibres and scalp micropigmentation are cheap, immediate and reversible; hair transplantation and surgical reconstruction have been reported in cancer survivors only in small numbers, and no trial compares any of them.","route":"/technologies/hair-camouflage-and-restoration/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hair-camouflage-and-restoration","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"cancell-protocel","name":"Cancell, Cantron and Protocel","tldr":"Cancell, also sold as Cantron and Protocel, is a liquid mixture of common industrial chemicals promoted since the 1930s as a cure for cancer and many other diseases. No animal or human study has shown it is safe or effective, a court has banned its distribution in the United States, and its makers discourage combining it with real treatment.","route":"/technologies/cancell-protocel/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cancell-protocel","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"cannabinoids-nausea","name":"Cannabinoids for chemotherapy nausea (dronabinol, nabilone, medical cannabis)","tldr":"Two synthetic cannabinoid tablets, dronabinol and nabilone, have been approved for chemotherapy nausea since 1985 and can help when standard anti-sickness drugs fail. Modern antiemetics work better for most people, and evidence for herbal cannabis or vaped products is thin.","route":"/technologies/cannabinoids-nausea/","status":"approved","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cannabinoids-nausea","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":["1985"]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"year":{"facet":"year","value":"1985"},"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":1985}},{"id":"cannabinoids-pain-appetite","name":"Cannabis and cannabinoids for pain, appetite and cancer control","tldr":"Cannabis and cannabinoids are used by patients for pain, appetite and sleep. Three phase 3 trials of a THC:CBD mouth spray added to opioids did not beat placebo for cancer pain, dronabinol failed for appetite, and no human trial shows tumour control, so ASCO's 2024 guideline advises against them as cancer treatment outside a trial.","route":"/technologies/cannabinoids-pain-appetite/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cannabinoids-pain-appetite","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Glioma & glioblastoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Glioma & glioblastoma","href":"/cancers/glioblastoma/","tip":"Gliomas are now diagnosed by molecular class, and three classes got their first targeted drugs in 2024-25 (vorasidenib for IDH-mutant glioma, tovorafenib for BRAF-altered paediatric glioma, dordaviprone for H3 K27M). Glioblastoma is the hardest to treat: surgery, radiotherapy with temozolomide and tumour treating fields are its backbone, with CAR-T into the brain and focused ultrasound in trials."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"carnitine-acetyl-l-carnitine","name":"Carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine","tldr":"Acetyl-L-carnitine was tested to prevent nerve damage from chemotherapy and made it worse, with the extra damage still present two years later; guidelines advise against it. Plain L-carnitine for cancer fatigue has mixed results and guidelines do not recommend it either.","route":"/technologies/carnitine-acetyl-l-carnitine/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"carnitine-acetyl-l-carnitine","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"cats-claw","name":"Cat's claw (Uncaria tomentosa)","tldr":"Cat's claw is a South American vine bark sold as an immune and joint tonic and sometimes for cancer. Two small studies in people with cancer reported fewer chemotherapy side effects and better quality of life, but a laboratory study found it helped childhood leukaemia cells survive. It raises levels of some HIV drugs and may add to blood thinners.","route":"/technologies/cats-claw/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cats-claw","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"cesium-chloride","name":"Cesium chloride ('high pH therapy')","tldr":"Cesium chloride is a salt sold as 'high pH therapy' on the claim that it makes cancer cells too alkaline to survive. There is no evidence for that claim, it causes dangerous heart rhythm problems and low potassium, and the FDA has warned people not to take it.","route":"/technologies/cesium-chloride/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cesium-chloride","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"chaga-mushroom","name":"Chaga mushroom","tldr":"Chaga is a fungus from birch trees, drunk as a tea or taken as powder in the belief that it fights cancer. It has never been tested for safety or benefit in people with cancer, and large daily amounts of the powder have caused kidney failure from oxalate in case reports.","route":"/technologies/chaga-mushroom/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"chaga-mushroom","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"chamomile","name":"Chamomile","tldr":"Chamomile tea is widely drunk to relax, and trials suggest modest help with anxiety and sleep. Chamomile mouthwashes for chemotherapy mouth sores have given mixed results. It can cause allergic reactions in people sensitive to ragweed and added to warfarin's effect in one serious bleeding case.","route":"/technologies/chamomile/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"chamomile","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"chaparral-herb","name":"Chaparral (creosote bush)","tldr":"Chaparral is a desert shrub long used as a folk cancer remedy and an ingredient of black salve. A phase 2 trial found it ineffective against cancer, and it has caused severe liver damage, some cases needing a liver transplant.","route":"/technologies/chaparral-herb/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"chaparral-herb","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"chasteberry","name":"Chasteberry","tldr":"Chasteberry is used for premenstrual symptoms and breast pain, with some trial support for premenstrual symptoms. Combined with St John's wort it did not help menopausal symptoms. It has plant hormone activity and in laboratory studies may weaken hormone therapies, so people with hormone-sensitive cancers should ask their team first.","route":"/technologies/chasteberry/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"chasteberry","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hypnosis-cancer-care","name":"Clinical hypnosis for procedures, pain and hot flushes","tldr":"A brief hypnosis session before breast surgery or a biopsy reduces pain, nausea and anxiety afterwards, and a course of hypnosis roughly halved hot flushes in one randomised trial. It is a skill some psychologists offer, not a stage act.","route":"/technologies/hypnosis-cancer-care/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hypnosis-cancer-care","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"coenzyme-q10","name":"Coenzyme Q10","tldr":"Coenzyme Q10 is an antioxidant supplement sold for heart health and energy. Studies in cancer fatigue are mixed, and in a breast cancer study women who took it before and during chemotherapy had a higher risk of the cancer coming back, so it is one to stop during treatment unless the team agrees.","route":"/technologies/coenzyme-q10/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"coenzyme-q10","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"cbt-fatigue-distress","name":"Cognitive behavioural therapy for fatigue and distress","tldr":"Cancer-related fatigue and anxiety respond to structured talking therapy that targets the thoughts and habits that keep them going. Randomised trials show benefits during treatment and, for persistent fatigue, years afterwards; guidelines recommend it.","route":"/technologies/cbt-fatigue-distress/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cbt-fatigue-distress","sections":["supportive-care","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Lung cancer","Non-small-cell lung cancer","Small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Lung cancer","href":"/cancers/lung-cancer/","tip":"Lung cancer splits into non-small-cell disease, about 85 percent of it, and small-cell disease, which was 6.6 percent of English cases in 2024 and 9.1 percent of Welsh ones (National Lung Cancer Audit, State of the Nation 2026); the two behave and are treated very differently. Screening, staging and the things both types share are common ground; the rest belongs to each subtype."},{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/sclc/","tip":"A fast-growing lung cancer. About a third of cases are confined to one side of the chest and are treated to cure with chemotherapy and radiotherapy together; the rest respond to chemotherapy and relapse quickly. After 30 years without progress, durvalumab consolidation, the T-cell engager tarlatamab and antibody-drug conjugates have each lengthened survival since 2024."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"cbt-insomnia-cancer","name":"Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I)","tldr":"Insomnia is one of the most persistent problems after cancer treatment. A short structured talking therapy that retrains sleep habits works better and for longer than sleeping tablets, and digital versions bring it to people who cannot reach a therapist.","route":"/technologies/cbt-insomnia-cancer/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cbt-insomnia-cancer","sections":["supportive-care","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"colloidal-silver","name":"Colloidal silver","tldr":"Colloidal silver is promoted as a cure for cancer, AIDS and infections, with no human evidence that taking it by mouth does anything useful. Long-term use deposits silver in the skin and turns it permanently blue-grey, and it has caused seizures, kidney damage and nerve damage. It should never be used in pregnancy.","route":"/technologies/colloidal-silver/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"colloidal-silver","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"comfrey","name":"Comfrey","tldr":"Comfrey is a garden plant used for wounds and sold in teas and capsules. Taken by mouth it contains alkaloids that damage the liver and cause cancer in animals, and the US regulator asked manufacturers to withdraw comfrey supplements in 2001. Foxglove mistaken for comfrey has caused poisoning and one death.","route":"/technologies/comfrey/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"comfrey","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"lymphoedema-decongestive-therapy","name":"Compression, decongestive therapy and exercise for lymphoedema","tldr":"Arm or leg swelling after lymph node surgery or radiotherapy is managed with compression garments, specialised massage, skin care and exercise. Weight lifting, once forbidden, was shown in a randomised trial to reduce flare-ups rather than cause them.","route":"/technologies/lymphoedema-decongestive-therapy/","status":"standard-of-care","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"lymphoedema-decongestive-therapy","sections":["supportive-care","surgery","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer","Melanoma","Vulvar cancer","Breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."},{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Vulvar cancer","href":"/cancers/vulvar/","tip":"An uncommon cancer of the external genitalia with two distinct causes: HPV infection in younger women and chronic skin inflammation in older women. Surgery is the mainstay, and sentinel-node biopsy has made it far less mutilating."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"coral-calcium","name":"Coral calcium","tldr":"Coral calcium was advertised as a cure for cancer and as the secret of long life in Okinawa. There is no evidence it has anticancer effects, the US Federal Trade Commission has banned such claims, and one product tested contained too much lead. As a calcium source it behaves like other calcium supplements but costs more.","route":"/technologies/coral-calcium/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"coral-calcium","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"cordyceps-fungus","name":"Cordyceps","tldr":"Cordyceps is a caterpillar fungus used in Chinese medicine for stamina and immunity. It has not been tested as a cancer treatment in people. It may add to the effect of blood thinners and diabetes medicines, and Memorial Sloan Kettering advises against it in myeloid blood cancers.","route":"/technologies/cordyceps-fungus/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"cordyceps-fungus","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hair-topical-prevention-agents","name":"Creams and lotions tried to prevent chemotherapy hair loss","tldr":"Several drugs have been put on the scalp to stop chemotherapy hair loss before it starts: minoxidil lotion, vitamin D analogues, and others. The trials were done and they did not work. Scalp cooling remains the only method cleared by a regulator to prevent it.","route":"/technologies/hair-topical-prevention-agents/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hair-topical-prevention-agents","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"creatine-supplements","name":"Creatine supplements","tldr":"Creatine helps athletes and older adults build strength alongside training. In people with cancer, trials found it did not improve weight loss and muscle wasting, did not add to resistance exercise in men on hormone therapy for prostate cancer, and did not improve muscle performance in breast cancer survivors. Exercise itself is what helps.","route":"/technologies/creatine-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"creatine-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer","Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"curcumin-turmeric","name":"Curcumin and turmeric","tldr":"Curcumin, the yellow pigment in turmeric, kills cancer cells in a dish and is one of the most studied supplements, but it is barely absorbed from the gut and no randomised trial has shown it treats cancer in people. Cooking with turmeric is fine; high-dose capsules can interact with chemotherapy and blood thinners.","route":"/technologies/curcumin-turmeric/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"curcumin-turmeric","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"dance-movement-therapy","name":"Dance and movement therapy","tldr":"Dance and movement therapy is enjoyable and a form of exercise, and small trials hint at better quality of life and mood in women with breast cancer, but a Cochrane review found too little evidence to judge whether it helps beyond that.","route":"/technologies/dance-movement-therapy/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"dance-movement-therapy","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"dhea-supplements","name":"DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) supplements","tldr":"DHEA is an adrenal hormone sold as an anti-ageing supplement. The body converts it into oestrogen and testosterone, so it should not be taken by people with hormone-sensitive breast or prostate cancer: it is linked to tamoxifen resistance and to prostate cancer growing despite hormone treatment. A prescribed vaginal form for dryness is a separate matter for your team.","route":"/technologies/dhea-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"dhea-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Prostate cancer","Ovarian cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."},{"label":"Ovarian cancer","href":"/cancers/ovarian/","tip":"Usually found late. PARP inhibitors transformed maintenance therapy, and ADCs against folate receptor and CDH6 are arriving for platinum-resistant disease."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"di-bella-multitherapy","name":"Di Bella multitherapy","tldr":"The Di Bella method combines somatostatin, melatonin, bromocriptine, retinoids and low-dose chemotherapy, and was hugely popular in Italy in the late 1990s. Eleven government-funded trials found no complete responses, a partial response rate under one per cent and considerable side effects.","route":"/technologies/di-bella-multitherapy/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"di-bella-multitherapy","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"diindolylmethane-dim","name":"Diindolylmethane (DIM)","tldr":"DIM is a broccoli-derived compound sold to 'balance oestrogen'. In a randomised trial in women taking tamoxifen for breast cancer, it lowered the blood level of endoxifen, the form of tamoxifen that does most of the work, so it should not be taken alongside tamoxifen without the oncologist's agreement.","route":"/technologies/diindolylmethane-dim/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"diindolylmethane-dim","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal","prevention"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"dmso-dimethyl-sulfoxide","name":"DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide)","tldr":"DMSO is an industrial solvent with one approved medical use, bladder instillation for interstitial cystitis, and it is used by hospitals to freeze stem cells. It is also sold, sometimes in industrial grade, as a cancer and pain remedy. Evidence that it slows cancer is inconsistent, and it is not approved for over-the-counter use in any form.","route":"/technologies/dmso-dimethyl-sulfoxide/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"dmso-dimethyl-sulfoxide","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"dong-quai","name":"Dong quai","tldr":"Dong quai is a Chinese herb promoted as a 'woman's herb' for menstrual and menopausal symptoms. Trials for menopausal symptoms are inconclusive and it did not help hot flushes in men. It acted like oestrogen in laboratory studies and promoted the growth of hormone-sensitive breast tumours in mice, and it can add to the effect of blood thinners.","route":"/technologies/dong-quai/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"dong-quai","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"echinacea","name":"Echinacea","tldr":"Echinacea is sold to boost the immune system and ward off colds. There is no evidence it helps people with cancer, and Memorial Sloan Kettering advises caution during chemotherapy because it may change how some cancer drugs work; one man on chemotherapy developed a dangerously low platelet count.","route":"/technologies/echinacea/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"echinacea","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"eight-sleep-pod-hot-flash-cooling","name":"Eight Sleep Pod: bed cooling and Hot Flash Mode","tldr":"A mattress cover that heats or cools each side of the bed, with a Hot Flash Mode that cools quickly when tapped. Its only evidence is a preprint by the company's own staff in menopausal women, not people on cancer hormone therapy, and the company says it is not a medical device.","route":"/technologies/eight-sleep-pod-hot-flash-cooling/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"eight-sleep-pod-hot-flash-cooling","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal","devices"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"essiac-herbal-cancer-cures","name":"Essiac, Hoxsey and other 'herbal cancer cures'","tldr":"Essiac tea, Hoxsey tonic and similar herbal mixtures have been sold as cancer cures for a century. Laboratory tests and reviews by the NCI and Canadian regulators found no anticancer effect, and the clinics that sell them have never produced a controlled trial.","route":"/technologies/essiac-herbal-cancer-cures/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"essiac-herbal-cancer-cures","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"evening-primrose-oil","name":"Evening primrose oil","tldr":"Evening primrose oil is taken for breast pain, hot flushes and skin problems. Evidence is mixed for each, and in cancer the few trials are small: one in liver cancer showed no effect on the tumour or survival. It can increase bleeding with blood thinners, and some products add plant oestrogens, so check the label if your cancer is hormone-sensitive.","route":"/technologies/evening-primrose-oil/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"evening-primrose-oil","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"fenbendazole-ivermectin-repurposing-claims","name":"Fenbendazole, ivermectin and other internet 'repurposed cures'","tldr":"Dog dewormers and anti-parasite drugs are promoted on social media as hidden cancer cures on the strength of cell-culture experiments and anecdotes. No clinical trial shows benefit in people, liver damage has been reported, and drug repurposing is real but works through trials, not forums.","route":"/technologies/fenbendazole-ivermectin-repurposing-claims/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"fenbendazole-ivermectin-repurposing-claims","sections":["supportive-care","drug-discovery"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"omega3-epa-cachexia","name":"Fish oil (EPA) for cancer weight loss","tldr":"Fish oil rich in EPA was expected to slow cancer-related muscle wasting by damping inflammation. Randomised trials and a Cochrane review found no convincing effect on weight or survival, though fish oil is safe and sits comfortably inside general nutritional support.","route":"/technologies/omega3-epa-cachexia/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"omega3-epa-cachexia","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","Non-small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."},{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"flaxseed-supplements","name":"Flaxseed and flaxseed lignans","tldr":"Ground flaxseed is a high-fibre food that can help constipation. As a cancer treatment it has only small studies of tumour growth markers in prostate and breast cancer, and in a trial it did not reduce hot flushes in women with or without breast cancer. It has weak oestrogen-like effects, so people with hormone-sensitive breast cancer should ask their team before taking supplement doses.","route":"/technologies/flaxseed-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"flaxseed-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"folic-acid-supplements","name":"Folate and folic acid supplements","tldr":"Folic acid is important in pregnancy, but during cancer treatment it can work against some drugs: it can blunt methotrexate used to treat cancer and has been linked to more severe side effects with capecitabine. It is not the same as the folinic acid (leucovorin) that oncologists deliberately give with some chemotherapy. Tell your team before taking it.","route":"/technologies/folic-acid-supplements/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"folic-acid-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"frozen-gloves-compression-taxane","name":"Frozen gloves, socks and compression for taxane nail and nerve damage","tldr":"Wearing frozen gloves and socks, or tight surgical gloves, during taxane infusions reduces nail damage and may reduce numbness in the hands and feet, by narrowing the blood vessels while the drug is at its peak. Trials are small but consistent, and it is cheap.","route":"/technologies/frozen-gloves-compression-taxane/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"frozen-gloves-compression-taxane","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"fucoidan-seaweed","name":"Fucoidan (brown seaweed extract)","tldr":"Fucoidan is a sugar-like compound from brown seaweed sold as an anticancer supplement. Small studies suggest it may ease fatigue and help some people stay on chemotherapy, but there is no proof it controls cancer. It thins the blood, so it can add to anticoagulants.","route":"/technologies/fucoidan-seaweed/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"fucoidan-seaweed","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"garlic-supplements","name":"Garlic supplements","tldr":"Garlic in food is harmless, and some studies link eating more of it with fewer stomach and bowel cancers, but the evidence is mixed. Concentrated garlic supplements thin the blood, so they should be stopped a week before surgery and avoided with blood thinners or low platelets.","route":"/technologies/garlic-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"garlic-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","prevention","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer","Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer","href":"/cancers/gastric/","tip":"A cancer with three new targets in five years: Claudin 18.2, FGFR2b, and HER2 with new ADCs, plus immunotherapy in first line."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"germanium-supplements","name":"Germanium supplements (Ge-132, 'vitamin O')","tldr":"Germanium is a mineral used in electronics that is sold as a supplement to fight cancer. There is no good evidence it works, and it causes kidney, liver and nerve damage, even at low doses, so Memorial Sloan Kettering advises that it should not be used at all.","route":"/technologies/germanium-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"germanium-supplements","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"gerson-therapy-detox-regimens","name":"Gerson therapy, coffee enemas and 'detox' regimens","tldr":"The Gerson regimen prescribes hourly juices, a strict low-salt vegetarian diet, supplements and several coffee enemas a day, and is sold at clinics in Mexico. It has never shown benefit in any controlled study, and coffee enemas have caused fatal electrolyte disturbances and infections.","route":"/technologies/gerson-therapy-detox-regimens/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"gerson-therapy-detox-regimens","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Melanoma","Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ginger-nausea","name":"Ginger for chemotherapy nausea","tldr":"Ginger capsules taken alongside standard anti-sickness drugs reduced nausea in the largest randomised trial, but other trials found no effect and the doses and products vary. It is safe for most people, with a caution about bleeding for anyone on anticoagulants.","route":"/technologies/ginger-nausea/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"ginger-nausea","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ginkgo","name":"Ginkgo biloba","tldr":"Ginkgo is sold to support memory, and some people take it hoping to prevent the thinking and memory problems that can follow chemotherapy. A trial in women with breast cancer found it did not prevent them, a large trial found no reduction in cancer risk, and it increases the risk of bleeding.","route":"/technologies/ginkgo/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"ginkgo","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"glucosamine","name":"Glucosamine and chondroitin","tldr":"Glucosamine, often with chondroitin, is one of the most used joint supplements. Most trials in osteoarthritis found no benefit and the American College of Rheumatology advises against it. Studies linking it to lower cancer risk are observational and may be biased. It can raise the blood-thinning effect of warfarin and affect blood sugar.","route":"/technologies/glucosamine/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"glucosamine","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"glutamine-mucositis-neuropathy","name":"Glutamine for mucositis and neuropathy","tldr":"Oral glutamine, an amino acid that gut and mouth lining cells use for fuel, may reduce the severity of mouth ulcers during head and neck chemoradiation; mucositis guidelines suggest it for that use. Intravenous glutamine in transplant patients is not recommended, and evidence for preventing nerve damage is thin.","route":"/technologies/glutamine-mucositis-neuropathy/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"glutamine-mucositis-neuropathy","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","radiation","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"gonzalez-regimen","name":"Gonzalez regimen (pancreatic proteolytic enzymes)","tldr":"The Gonzalez regimen combines pig pancreatic enzyme capsules, a strict diet, supplements and coffee enemas. In a controlled study in inoperable pancreatic cancer, people who chose it lived a median of 4.3 months against 14.0 months for those who chose chemotherapy, and had worse quality of life.","route":"/technologies/gonzalez-regimen/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"gonzalez-regimen","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"graviola","name":"Graviola (soursop)","tldr":"Graviola is a tropical tree whose fruit is soursop, and its leaf extracts are widely sold online as a natural cancer cure. They kill cancer cells in laboratory dishes, but there are no human studies, and animal studies raised concern about nerve damage.","route":"/technologies/graviola/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"graviola","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"green-tea-egcg","name":"Green tea and EGCG extracts","tldr":"Drinking green tea is safe and pleasant, but a Cochrane review found no consistent evidence that it prevents cancer, and concentrated green tea extract capsules have caused liver injury and can interfere with some drugs.","route":"/technologies/green-tea-egcg/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"green-tea-egcg","sections":["supportive-care","prevention","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"high-dose-vitamin-c","name":"High-dose intravenous vitamin C","tldr":"Vitamin C tablets do not treat cancer: two randomised trials at the Mayo Clinic settled that in the 1980s. Intravenous doses reach blood levels high enough to generate hydrogen peroxide in tumours, and small trials alongside chemotherapy are under way, but no adequately sized trial has yet shown benefit.","route":"/technologies/high-dose-vitamin-c/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"high-dose-vitamin-c","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","Ovarian cancer","Glioma & glioblastoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."},{"label":"Ovarian cancer","href":"/cancers/ovarian/","tip":"Usually found late. PARP inhibitors transformed maintenance therapy, and ADCs against folate receptor and CDH6 are arriving for platinum-resistant disease."},{"label":"Glioma & glioblastoma","href":"/cancers/glioblastoma/","tip":"Gliomas are now diagnosed by molecular class, and three classes got their first targeted drugs in 2024-25 (vorasidenib for IDH-mutant glioma, tovorafenib for BRAF-altered paediatric glioma, dordaviprone for H3 K27M). Glioblastoma is the hardest to treat: surgery, radiotherapy with temozolomide and tumour treating fields are its backbone, with CAR-T into the brain and focused ultrasound in trials."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hmb-supplements","name":"HMB (beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate)","tldr":"HMB, a breakdown product of the amino acid leucine, is sold to preserve muscle and is added to some medical drinks for cancer weight loss, often with arginine and glutamine. A larger randomised trial of that combination in cancer wasting found no significant effect, and analyses show at most small gains in muscle across other illnesses.","route":"/technologies/hmb-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hmb-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"homeopathy-cancer","name":"Homeopathy","tldr":"Homeopathic remedies are diluted until no molecules of the starting substance remain, so any effect would need new physics. A Cochrane review of trials for chemotherapy and radiotherapy side effects found no convincing evidence that they work; they are harmless as long as they do not replace real treatment.","route":"/technologies/homeopathy-cancer/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"homeopathy-cancer","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"honey-radiation-mucositis","name":"Honey for radiation mucositis","tldr":"Swallowing honey before and after head and neck radiotherapy sessions reduced mouth ulcers in several small trials, mostly from single centres, but the studies are of low quality and mucositis guidelines could not make a recommendation either way.","route":"/technologies/honey-radiation-mucositis/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"honey-radiation-mucositis","sections":["supportive-care","radiation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hydrazine-sulfate","name":"Hydrazine sulfate","tldr":"Hydrazine sulfate was promoted in the 1970s and 80s to reverse cancer weight loss and prolong life. Three large randomised trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute found no benefit and more side effects, and the compound is a suspected carcinogen.","route":"/technologies/hydrazine-sulfate/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hydrazine-sulfate","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer","Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hyperbaric-oxygen-radiation-injury","name":"Hyperbaric oxygen for late radiation injury","tldr":"Breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised chamber, over 30 to 40 sessions, helps heal radiation damage to the jaw, bladder and bowel that appears years after treatment. A Cochrane review found moderate-quality evidence of benefit for these sites, and little for others.","route":"/technologies/hyperbaric-oxygen-radiation-injury/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hyperbaric-oxygen-radiation-injury","sections":["supportive-care","radiation","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer","Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Cervical cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."},{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."},{"label":"Cervical cancer","href":"/cancers/cervical/","tip":"A cancer that could be eliminated by HPV vaccination and screening. For those who develop it, immunotherapy and a tissue-factor ADC have improved survival."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"indole-3-carbinol","name":"Indole-3-carbinol (I3C)","tldr":"Indole-3-carbinol comes from broccoli, cabbage and other cruciferous vegetables, and diets rich in these vegetables are linked to lower cancer risk. Capsules have shown activity in early trials for precancerous changes of the cervix and vulva, but some laboratory models show it can also promote cancer growth, and the benefit of vegetables may not need high-dose supplements.","route":"/technologies/indole-3-carbinol/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"indole-3-carbinol","sections":["supportive-care","prevention","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"insulin-potentiation-therapy","name":"Insulin potentiation therapy","tldr":"Insulin potentiation therapy gives insulin with a fraction of the usual chemotherapy dose, on the claim that insulin makes cancer cells absorb the drug better. It has never been tested in a well-designed trial, it causes low blood sugar, and some clinics offering it are not run by oncologists.","route":"/technologies/insulin-potentiation-therapy/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"insulin-potentiation-therapy","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"juice-plus","name":"Juice Plus (fruit and vegetable concentrate capsules)","tldr":"Juice Plus is a capsule of fruit and vegetable concentrates with added vitamins, sold through direct marketing. It raises some vitamin levels in the blood, but in a study of people with head and neck cancer that brought no clinical benefit, and it is not proven to prevent or treat cancer. Its antioxidants may interfere with some chemotherapy.","route":"/technologies/juice-plus/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"juice-plus","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"kava-kava","name":"Kava","tldr":"Kava is a Pacific root drink taken to ease anxiety and sleep. Some trials found a short-term effect on anxiety and others did not, and kava has caused liver injury, including liver failure needing a transplant. Several governments have withdrawn or warned against it, and it adds to sedatives and should be stopped before surgery.","route":"/technologies/kava-kava/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"kava-kava","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"kratom","name":"Kratom","tldr":"Kratom is a Southeast Asian leaf with opioid-like effects, sold online for pain, mood and energy. The FDA has warned against it because of addiction, overdose, contaminated products and deaths, and Memorial Sloan Kettering advises that it should not replace prescribed pain medicines.","route":"/technologies/kratom/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"kratom","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"l-theanine-supplements","name":"L-theanine","tldr":"L-theanine is an amino acid from green tea sold for relaxation and sleep. Small studies suggest it may help sleep, with mixed results for anxiety, and early studies in chemotherapy are preliminary. No side effects are reported for the purified form, but green tea products can interfere with the myeloma drug bortezomib.","route":"/technologies/l-theanine-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"l-theanine-supplements","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"laetrile-amygdalin","name":"Laetrile (amygdalin, 'vitamin B17')","tldr":"Laetrile, sold as vitamin B17 or apricot kernel extract, was tested in a large National Cancer Institute study in the 1980s and did nothing against cancer. It releases cyanide in the gut, and people have been poisoned by it.","route":"/technologies/laetrile-amygdalin/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"laetrile-amygdalin","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"lavender","name":"Lavender (oral and aromatherapy)","tldr":"Lavender is taken as capsules or inhaled as aromatherapy for anxiety and sleep. Trials outside cancer suggest it can ease anxiety, but in people with cancer it did not lower anxiety during radiotherapy and added nothing to massage in a hospice. It may have weak hormonal effects, so long-term use is best avoided with hormone-sensitive cancers.","route":"/technologies/lavender/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"lavender","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"lions-mane-mushroom","name":"Lion's mane mushroom","tldr":"Lion's mane is an edible mushroom sold in capsules for memory, mood and immunity. A few small studies in older adults report better memory or mood, but there are no studies showing it has any effect on cancer in people.","route":"/technologies/lions-mane-mushroom/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"lions-mane-mushroom","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"licorice-root","name":"Liquorice root (glycyrrhiza)","tldr":"Liquorice root is a flavouring and a common ingredient of Chinese herbal formulas. Mouthwashes containing it have small studies for mouth sores during radiotherapy, but regular use of liquorice containing glycyrrhizin raises blood pressure and drains potassium, and has caused dangerous heart rhythms and cardiac arrest. It interacts with diuretics, heart drugs and blood pressure medicines.","route":"/technologies/licorice-root/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"licorice-root","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"livingston-wheeler-therapy","name":"Livingston-Wheeler therapy","tldr":"Livingston-Wheeler therapy was an alternative cancer regimen popular from the 1970s, built on a bacterium its founder claimed caused cancer, which independent researchers never confirmed. In a matched comparison, patients at the clinic lived no longer than those treated conventionally and had consistently worse quality of life, and its coffee enemas have caused deaths.","route":"/technologies/livingston-wheeler-therapy/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"livingston-wheeler-therapy","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"low-dose-naltrexone","name":"Low-dose naltrexone","tldr":"Low-dose naltrexone is a small dose of an old addiction medicine, prescribed off-label and promoted online as a cheap cancer treatment. It has some small trials in fibromyalgia and Crohn's disease, but the claims for cancer have never been tested in a clinical trial.","route":"/technologies/low-dose-naltrexone/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"low-dose-naltrexone","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hair-photobiomodulation","name":"Low-level light therapy (photobiomodulation) for hair","tldr":"Red and near-infrared light from a cap, comb or in-clinic device, sold for hair growth and tested twice in breast cancer. Adding it to scalp cooling did not improve on scalp cooling alone, and a separate caution applies to shining light at tissue where a tumour may be.","route":"/technologies/hair-photobiomodulation/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hair-photobiomodulation","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","devices"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"lycopene","name":"Lycopene","tldr":"Lycopene is the red pigment in tomatoes, sold as a supplement to prevent prostate cancer. People who eat more tomatoes have lower rates of some cancers, but trials of lycopene supplements have not shown that they prevent or treat prostate cancer.","route":"/technologies/lycopene/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"lycopene","sections":["supportive-care","prevention","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"magnesium-supplements","name":"Magnesium supplements","tldr":"Some cancer drugs, notably cisplatin and the antibodies cetuximab and panitumumab, wash magnesium out of the body, and the team checks and replaces it. Beyond that, magnesium taken for hot flushes or general health has only small pilot studies behind it, and too much is dangerous for people with kidney or bowel problems.","route":"/technologies/magnesium-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"magnesium-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"maitake-mushroom","name":"Maitake mushroom extracts","tldr":"Maitake, or hen of the woods, is an edible mushroom whose extracts are sold to boost the immune system against cancer. Small studies show changes in immune markers, but no trial has shown that it shrinks cancer or helps people live longer. It can lower blood sugar, and in one person taking warfarin it made the blood slower to clot.","route":"/technologies/maitake-mushroom/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"maitake-mushroom","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"mangosteen-juice","name":"Mangosteen juice and pericarp extract","tldr":"Mangosteen is a tropical fruit whose juice and rind extracts are sold as antioxidant health drinks. Laboratory studies show anticancer activity, but no study has tested it in people with cancer, and Memorial Sloan Kettering warns its antioxidants may interfere with some chemotherapy. Severe lactic acidosis was reported after a year of daily juice.","route":"/technologies/mangosteen-juice/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"mangosteen-juice","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"massage-therapy-cancer","name":"Massage therapy in cancer care","tldr":"Gentle massage by a trained oncology massage therapist gives short-term relief of pain, anxiety and mood in people with advanced cancer, shown in a randomised trial of 380 patients. It is safe when pressure is adapted around tumours, bone metastases, ports and low platelet counts.","route":"/technologies/massage-therapy-cancer/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"massage-therapy-cancer","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"medicinal-mushrooms-reishi-turkey-tail","name":"Medicinal mushrooms: reishi, turkey tail, shiitake and others","tldr":"Reishi, turkey tail, shiitake, maitake and cordyceps extracts are rich in beta-glucans that stimulate natural killer cells in the laboratory and are sold as supplements to people with cancer. A 2016 Cochrane review found five small, poor-quality reishi trials and no evidence it treats cancer; the other species lack randomised efficacy trials, and rare liver toxicity is reported.","route":"/technologies/medicinal-mushrooms-reishi-turkey-tail/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"medicinal-mushrooms-reishi-turkey-tail","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"melatonin-cancer","name":"Melatonin as a cancer adjunct","tldr":"Melatonin helps some people sleep and is safe at usual doses, but the claim that high-dose melatonin improves survival rests on a series of small unblinded trials from one group that has never been reproduced elsewhere. It is not a cancer treatment.","route":"/technologies/melatonin-cancer/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"melatonin-cancer","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"mgn-3-rice-bran-arabinoxylan","name":"MGN-3 (rice bran arabinoxylan, BioBran)","tldr":"MGN-3 is a rice bran product treated with mushroom enzymes and promoted as an immune booster against cancer. A few small, short studies report immune changes and fewer treatment side effects, which is not enough to say it helps. No side effects or interactions have been reported.","route":"/technologies/mgn-3-rice-bran-arabinoxylan/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"mgn-3-rice-bran-arabinoxylan","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"milk-thistle-silymarin","name":"Milk thistle (silymarin)","tldr":"Milk thistle is a herb taken to protect the liver, and many people use it during chemotherapy for that reason. Small studies hint that it may ease some liver and nerve side effects, but none is large enough to rely on, and it can change how some medicines are handled by the body.","route":"/technologies/milk-thistle-silymarin/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"milk-thistle-silymarin","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"mindfulness-based-interventions","name":"Mindfulness-based stress reduction and cognitive therapy","tldr":"Structured eight-week mindfulness courses reduce anxiety and low mood during and after cancer treatment, with dozens of randomised trials behind them. Guidelines from ASCO and the Society for Integrative Oncology recommend them as a first option alongside, not instead of, psychological care.","route":"/technologies/mindfulness-based-interventions/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"mindfulness-based-interventions","sections":["supportive-care","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"minoxidil-chemotherapy-alopecia","name":"Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss","tldr":"Most hair grows back after chemotherapy, but a minority, especially after docetaxel, are left with thin hair, and tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors cause gradual thinning. Minoxidil lotion or low-dose tablets, the same treatment used for pattern hair loss, improved regrowth in most patients in dermatology series and shortened regrowth time in an early randomised trial.","route":"/technologies/minoxidil-chemotherapy-alopecia/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"minoxidil-chemotherapy-alopecia","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","chemotherapy","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"mistletoe-extracts","name":"Mistletoe extracts (Iscador, Helixor)","tldr":"Injectable mistletoe extracts are the most prescribed complementary cancer treatment in German-speaking Europe. Decades of studies have not shown that they lengthen life; some suggest better quality of life during chemotherapy, but the trials are weak and the largest well-run ones were negative.","route":"/technologies/mistletoe-extracts/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"mistletoe-extracts","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","Melanoma","HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."},{"label":"Melanoma","href":"/cancers/melanoma/","tip":"The skin cancer that proved immunotherapy works: half of advanced patients now live 10 years. Also the first with an approved TIL therapy, an oncolytic virus, and a positive phase 3 personalised vaccine."},{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"moringa-oleifera","name":"Moringa (Moringa oleifera)","tldr":"Moringa is a nutritious leaf eaten in Asia and Africa and sold as a powder with claims including cancer treatment. Its anticancer effects are only in laboratory studies, and human research is limited to small studies of cholesterol, blood sugar and nutrition. Rare severe skin reactions and anaphylaxis have been reported.","route":"/technologies/moringa-oleifera/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"moringa-oleifera","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"music-therapy-cancer","name":"Music therapy and music medicine","tldr":"Listening to music, or working with a trained music therapist, reduces anxiety, pain and fatigue during cancer treatment in a Cochrane review of more than 80 trials. The effects are real but modest, and the evidence is of low to moderate certainty because blinding is impossible.","route":"/technologies/music-therapy-cancer/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"music-therapy-cancer","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"n-acetylcysteine-supplements","name":"N-acetylcysteine (NAC) supplements","tldr":"N-acetylcysteine is a real medicine for paracetamol overdose and for thinning mucus, and is also sold as an antioxidant supplement. In a large trial it did not prevent second cancers of the head and neck or lung, and in animals it sped up lung cancer growth. Whether it interferes with cancer treatment is unknown, so it is one to discuss with your team.","route":"/technologies/n-acetylcysteine-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"n-acetylcysteine-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","prevention","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."},{"label":"Lung cancer","href":"/cancers/lung-cancer/","tip":"Lung cancer splits into non-small-cell disease, about 85 percent of it, and small-cell disease, which was 6.6 percent of English cases in 2024 and 9.1 percent of Welsh ones (National Lung Cancer Audit, State of the Nation 2026); the two behave and are treated very differently. Screening, staging and the things both types share are common ground; the rest belongs to each subtype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"newcastle-disease-virus-alternative","name":"Newcastle disease virus as an alternative cancer therapy","tldr":"Newcastle disease virus is a bird virus that grows better in human cancer cells than in normal cells, and versions of it are sold at some overseas clinics as a cancer treatment. Studies in people have been small and mostly without proper comparison groups, so no conclusion about whether it works can be drawn.","route":"/technologies/newcastle-disease-virus-alternative/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"newcastle-disease-virus-alternative","sections":["supportive-care","immunotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"noni-juice","name":"Noni juice (Morinda citrifolia)","tldr":"Noni is a Polynesian fruit sold worldwide as a juice and supplement, often with cancer claims. There are no trials in cancer, and case reports link noni juice to liver injury, including one liver failure needing a transplant, dangerously high potassium, and blocking the effect of warfarin.","route":"/technologies/noni-juice/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"noni-juice","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"oleandrin-anvirzel","name":"Oleander extracts (oleandrin, Anvirzel, PBI-05204)","tldr":"Oleander is a highly poisonous shrub whose heart-acting compound, oleandrin, has been developed into extracts promoted against cancer. An oral extract did not lengthen survival in a study in metastatic pancreatic cancer, and oleander has killed people, including a man with sarcoma who injected an extract daily. MSK says these products should not be used outside clinical trials.","route":"/technologies/oleandrin-anvirzel/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"oleandrin-anvirzel","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"oral-cryotherapy-mucositis","name":"Oral cryotherapy (ice chips) to prevent mucositis","tldr":"Sucking ice chips for half an hour around a bolus dose of fluorouracil or high-dose melphalan roughly halves the risk of painful mouth ulcers. It costs nothing and is recommended in international mucositis guidelines.","route":"/technologies/oral-cryotherapy-mucositis/","status":"standard-of-care","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"oral-cryotherapy-mucositis","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"papaya-leaf-extract","name":"Papaya leaf extract","tldr":"Papaya leaf tea and extracts are sold to boost immunity and raise platelet counts, and are shared online as a cancer remedy. Studies in dengue fever suggest they may raise platelets, but there are no studies in people with cancer. Short-term use appears safe; long-term use raised concerns in animal studies.","route":"/technologies/papaya-leaf-extract/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"papaya-leaf-extract","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"pau-d-arco","name":"Pau d'arco (lapacho, taheebo)","tldr":"Pau d'arco is a South American tree bark tea sold to treat infections and cancer. Its main ingredient, lapachol, had no effect in people with chronic myeloid leukaemia, and in animals large doses caused anaemia and harmed unborn young. It may add to blood thinners.","route":"/technologies/pau-d-arco/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"pau-d-arco","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"pc-spes","name":"PC-SPES","tldr":"PC-SPES was an eight-herb mixture sold for prostate cancer that lowered PSA in men, but batches turned out to contain prescription drugs, including a synthetic oestrogen and a blood thinner. It was recalled in 2002 and is no longer made; products sold as substitutes are not the same thing.","route":"/technologies/pc-spes/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"pc-spes","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"peer-support-groups","name":"Peer support and support groups","tldr":"Meeting others in the same situation reduces distress and isolation, and randomised trials of supportive-expressive groups show better mood and pain coping. The once-famous claim that support groups lengthen survival did not hold up in a larger trial.","route":"/technologies/peer-support-groups/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"peer-support-groups","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Colorectal cancer","Lung cancer","Non-small-cell lung cancer","Small-cell lung cancer","Non-Hodgkin lymphoma","Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","Follicular lymphoma","Mantle cell lymphoma","Marginal zone lymphoma","Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue","Splenic marginal zone lymphoma","Nodal marginal zone lymphoma","Waldenström macroglobulinaemia","Primary mediastinal (thymic) large B-cell lymphoma","Burkitt lymphoma","Hodgkin lymphoma","Early-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma","Advanced-stage classical Hodgkin lymphoma","Relapsed and refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma","Nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma","Peripheral T-cell lymphomas","Nodal T-follicular helper cell lymphoma, angioimmunoblastic type","Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma","Sezary syndrome","Primary CNS lymphoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."},{"label":"Lung cancer","href":"/cancers/lung-cancer/","tip":"Lung cancer splits into non-small-cell disease, about 85 percent of it, and small-cell disease, which was 6.6 percent of English cases in 2024 and 9.1 percent of Welsh ones (National Lung Cancer Audit, State of the Nation 2026); the two behave and are treated very differently. Screening, staging and the things both types share are common ground; the rest belongs to each subtype."},{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"peppermint","name":"Peppermint and peppermint oil","tldr":"Peppermint oil has trial evidence for irritable bowel symptoms and indigestion. In people with cancer, small studies suggest that breathing in peppermint oil may reduce chemotherapy nausea, and a herbal mouthwash with peppermint and chamomile eased mouth sores after stem cell transplant, but none of this is yet established. It can worsen heartburn.","route":"/technologies/peppermint/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"peppermint","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"photobiomodulation-mucositis","name":"Photobiomodulation (low-level laser) for oral mucositis","tldr":"Shining low-power red or near-infrared light on the inside of the mouth before and during treatment prevents severe mouth ulcers in people having head and neck radiotherapy or high-dose chemotherapy for transplant. Mucositis guidelines recommend it, though few centres yet have the equipment.","route":"/technologies/photobiomodulation-mucositis/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"photobiomodulation-mucositis","sections":["supportive-care","radiation","devices","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","Multiple myeloma","Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","href":"/cancers/head-and-neck/","tip":"Cancers of the mouth and throat, increasingly caused by HPV. Immunotherapy is first line for advanced disease and now used before surgery."},{"label":"Multiple myeloma","href":"/cancers/multiple-myeloma/","tip":"Multiple myeloma is a plasma-cell cancer with more new drug classes than any other: proteasome inhibitors, IMiDs, CD38 antibodies, BCMA CAR-T, bispecifics, and an ADC."},{"label":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","href":"/cancers/dlbcl/","tip":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive but curable lymphoma. CAR-T cures about 40% of relapsed patients, and off-the-shelf bispecifics are now approved."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hair-platelet-rich-plasma","name":"Platelet-rich plasma for hair after cancer treatment","tldr":"Blood is spun to concentrate platelets and injected into the scalp. It is sold widely for hair loss and is expensive. The one randomised study in people treated for cancer injected one half of the scalp and left the other half alone: both halves improved by the same amount.","route":"/technologies/hair-platelet-rich-plasma/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hair-platelet-rich-plasma","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"pomegranate-extract","name":"Pomegranate juice and extract","tldr":"Pomegranate juice became popular among men with prostate cancer after early studies suggested it slowed the rise of prostate-specific antigen. Later placebo-controlled trials were conflicting, and in advanced prostate cancer it did not lower the marker more than placebo. It is generally safe, apart from sugar content and a possible interaction with statins and warfarin.","route":"/technologies/pomegranate-extract/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"pomegranate-extract","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"probiotics-treatment-diarrhoea","name":"Probiotics for chemotherapy and radiotherapy diarrhoea","tldr":"Probiotic supplements (Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium) may reduce diarrhoea during pelvic radiotherapy for cervical, rectal and prostate cancer and some chemotherapy, but a 2018 Cochrane review rated the evidence low certainty and strains differ between trials. Patients in profound neutropenia or with a central line should not take them without advice, because bloodstream infections have occurred.","route":"/technologies/probiotics-treatment-diarrhoea/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"probiotics-treatment-diarrhoea","sections":["supportive-care","radiation","chemotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Cervical cancer","Colorectal cancer","Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Cervical cancer","href":"/cancers/cervical/","tip":"A cancer that could be eliminated by HPV vaccination and screening. For those who develop it, immunotherapy and a tissue-factor ADC have improved survival."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."},{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"psk-krestin-adjuvant","name":"PSK (Krestin) mushroom polysaccharide as adjuvant therapy","tldr":"PSK, a protein-bound polysaccharide from the turkey tail mushroom, has been an approved adjuvant cancer drug in Japan since 1977. Meta-analyses of Japanese randomised trials in stomach and bowel cancer found a modest survival benefit added to chemotherapy, but these results have never been tested outside Japan.","route":"/technologies/psk-krestin-adjuvant/","status":"approved","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"psk-krestin-adjuvant","sections":["supportive-care","immunotherapy"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer","Colorectal cancer"],"year":["1977"]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer","href":"/cancers/gastric/","tip":"A cancer with three new targets in five years: Claudin 18.2, FGFR2b, and HER2 with new ADCs, plus immunotherapy in first line."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."}],"year":{"facet":"year","value":"1977"},"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":1977}},{"id":"quercetin-supplements","name":"Quercetin supplements","tldr":"Quercetin is a flavonoid found in apples, onions and tea, sold as an antioxidant and anti-cancer supplement. There is no human evidence that it treats or prevents cancer, it made oestrogen-driven breast tumours worse in mice, and it may raise levels of some drugs, including tamoxifen in laboratory studies and warfarin in one patient.","route":"/technologies/quercetin-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"quercetin-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"red-clover-isoflavones","name":"Red clover isoflavones","tldr":"Red clover extracts are sold for menopausal hot flushes. They contain plant oestrogens, and Memorial Sloan Kettering advises people with hormone-sensitive cancers to avoid them. They may also increase bleeding with blood thinners and caused toxicity in a patient receiving methotrexate.","route":"/technologies/red-clover-isoflavones/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"red-clover-isoflavones","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"reflexology-cancer","name":"Reflexology","tldr":"Reflexology is foot massage guided by a map of the body that has no anatomical basis. Small trials report short-lived relaxation and pain relief similar to any gentle foot massage; guidelines list it as an option for pain only with low confidence.","route":"/technologies/reflexology-cancer/","status":"emerging","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"reflexology-cancer","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"reiki-energy-therapies","name":"Reiki, healing touch and other energy therapies","tldr":"Reiki and similar practices involve a practitioner holding hands on or near the body to channel an 'energy' that has never been detected. Trials show relaxation similar to sham sessions; they are harmless as rest, but they treat nothing.","route":"/technologies/reiki-energy-therapies/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"reiki-energy-therapies","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"relaxation-guided-imagery","name":"Relaxation training and guided imagery","tldr":"Progressive muscle relaxation, breathing exercises and guided imagery are simple techniques that reduce anxiety and treatment-related distress during chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Guidelines say they may be offered, and audio versions cost nothing.","route":"/technologies/relaxation-guided-imagery/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"relaxation-guided-imagery","sections":["supportive-care","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"resveratrol-supplements","name":"Resveratrol supplements","tldr":"Resveratrol, found in red grape skins, is sold as an anti-ageing and anti-cancer supplement because it lengthened the life of yeast cells. That has never been shown in people. A trial of a high-dose form in myeloma was stopped because of serious side effects including kidney failure, and it has oestrogen-like effects that are a concern in hormone-sensitive cancers.","route":"/technologies/resveratrol-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"resveratrol-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Multiple myeloma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Multiple myeloma","href":"/cancers/multiple-myeloma/","tip":"Multiple myeloma is a plasma-cell cancer with more new drug classes than any other: proteasome inhibitors, IMiDs, CD38 antibodies, BCMA CAR-T, bispecifics, and an ADC."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"sam-e-supplements","name":"SAM-e (S-adenosylmethionine)","tldr":"SAM-e is sold for mood, joints and the liver. Evidence for depression is mixed, it did not help hot flushes, and small studies of protecting the liver during chemotherapy need confirming. It can trigger mania in bipolar disorder and adds to the serotonin effects of antidepressants.","route":"/technologies/sam-e-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"sam-e-supplements","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"saw-palmetto","name":"Saw palmetto","tldr":"Saw palmetto is widely taken for an enlarged prostate, with conflicting trial results. It does not change prostate-specific antigen levels and there is no evidence it treats prostate cancer. It has been linked to bleeding, including during an operation, and Memorial Sloan Kettering advises checking with a doctor before using it during radiotherapy.","route":"/technologies/saw-palmetto/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"saw-palmetto","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"scalp-care-cancer-treatment","name":"Scalp care during and after cancer treatment","tldr":"A bare scalp burns in sun it has never met, loses heat fast in cold, and is more easily irritated while treatment is going on. The measures are small and free, and they are the part of hair loss a person can act on from the first week.","route":"/technologies/scalp-care-cancer-treatment/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"scalp-care-cancer-treatment","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","chemotherapy","radiation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"scalp-cooling","name":"Scalp cooling (cold caps: DigniCap, Paxman)","tldr":"A tightly fitted cap chilled to a few degrees above freezing, worn before, during and after each chemotherapy infusion, narrows the blood vessels of the scalp so less drug reaches the hair roots. In a randomised trial about half of women on taxane-based chemotherapy kept most of their hair, compared with none who went without.","route":"/technologies/scalp-cooling/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"scalp-cooling","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","chemotherapy","devices"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer","HER2-positive breast cancer","Ovarian cancer","Prostate cancer","Breast cancer"],"year":["2015"]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."},{"label":"HER2-positive breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-her2-positive/","tip":"HER2-positive breast cancer was once the most aggressive subtype and is now one of the most treatable, thanks to trastuzumab and, more recently, Enhertu."},{"label":"Ovarian cancer","href":"/cancers/ovarian/","tip":"Usually found late. PARP inhibitors transformed maintenance therapy, and ADCs against folate receptor and CDH6 are arriving for platinum-resistant disease."}],"year":{"facet":"year","value":"2015"},"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":2015}},{"id":"paper-scalp-trial-jama-2017","name":"SCALP: scalp cooling to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy for early breast cancer","tldr":"In the first randomised trial of a modern scalp cooling system, half the women who used the Paxman device during taxane or anthracycline chemotherapy for early breast cancer kept most of their hair, compared with none of those who did not.","route":"/key-papers/paper-scalp-trial-jama-2017/","kind":"paper","sub":"Nangia J, Wang T, Osborne C, et al. · JAMA 2017","facets":{"kind":["Key paper"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer","HER2-positive breast cancer"],"year":["2017"]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Key paper","tip":"The papers that changed practice or thinking, each explained: what it found, what it means, and what to be careful about."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."},{"label":"HER2-positive breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-her2-positive/","tip":"HER2-positive breast cancer was once the most aggressive subtype and is now one of the most treatable, thanks to trastuzumab and, more recently, Enhertu."}],"year":{"facet":"year","value":"2017"},"tags":[{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":2017}},{"id":"sea-cucumber-extract","name":"Sea cucumber extract","tldr":"Sea cucumber is a marine animal eaten as a delicacy in Asia and sold as a supplement for joints and cancer. Laboratory studies show anticancer activity, but there is no clinical evidence for its use in any condition, and it may add to the effect of blood thinners.","route":"/technologies/sea-cucumber-extract/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"sea-cucumber-extract","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"suns-soup-selected-vegetables","name":"Selected Vegetables and Sun's Soup","tldr":"Sun's Soup is a freeze-dried mixture of vegetables, beans, mushrooms and herbs developed by one biochemist and sold as a cancer supplement. Small studies in advanced lung cancer reported longer survival, but each tested a different recipe and the designs were too weak to trust.","route":"/technologies/suns-soup-selected-vegetables/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"suns-soup-selected-vegetables","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"selenium-supplements","name":"Selenium supplements","tldr":"Selenium is an essential trace mineral sold to prevent cancer. The large SELECT trial found it did not prevent prostate cancer or bowel polyps, other studies suggest long-term use may raise the risk of some skin cancers and of dying from prostate cancer, and overdoses have killed.","route":"/technologies/selenium-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"selenium-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","prevention","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer","Colorectal cancer","Non-small-cell lung cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."},{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"shark-cartilage","name":"Shark cartilage (AE-941, Neovastat)","tldr":"The idea that sharks do not get cancer (they do) launched a supplement industry. Two randomised trials, including a large phase 3 in lung cancer, found that shark cartilage extract does nothing for survival, and the trade contributed to shark population declines.","route":"/technologies/shark-cartilage/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"shark-cartilage","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Non-small-cell lung cancer","HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Colorectal cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."},{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"siberian-ginseng-eleuthero","name":"Siberian ginseng (eleuthero)","tldr":"Siberian ginseng is not a true ginseng; it is sold as a tonic for stamina and immunity. Human studies are few and none concerns cancer. It raised digoxin levels in a case report.","route":"/technologies/siberian-ginseng-eleuthero/","status":"concept","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"siberian-ginseng-eleuthero","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"st-johns-wort-interaction","name":"St John's wort: an interaction to avoid","tldr":"St John's wort is a herbal antidepressant whose active ingredient hyperforin switches on the liver enzyme CYP3A4 and the P-glycoprotein pump, cutting blood levels of irinotecan's active metabolite by 42% and imatinib by about a third. It is contraindicated with most tyrosine kinase, CDK4/6 and PARP inhibitors, and its effect lasts two weeks after stopping.","route":"/technologies/st-johns-wort-interaction/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"st-johns-wort-interaction","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"hair-supplements-marketed","name":"Supplements sold for hair growth after cancer treatment","tldr":"Biotin, marine-protein and multi-ingredient capsules are advertised directly to people whose hair has thinned after treatment. No randomised trial of any of them has been run in chemotherapy or endocrine-therapy hair loss. High-dose biotin also distorts hospital blood tests, including the one used to diagnose a heart attack.","route":"/technologies/hair-supplements-marketed/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"hair-supplements-marketed","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."},{"label":"hair-loss","href":"/tagged/hair-loss/","tip":"Every record tagged hair-loss."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"tai-chi-qigong","name":"Tai chi and qigong","tldr":"Slow, low-impact movement practices from Chinese tradition improve fatigue, sleep and balance in people with cancer. Randomised trials are moderately sized and positive, and the 2024 fatigue guideline recommends them during treatment.","route":"/technologies/tai-chi-qigong/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"tai-chi-qigong","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","rejuvenation"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"traditional-chinese-herbal-medicine","name":"Traditional Chinese herbal medicine alongside treatment","tldr":"Traditional Chinese herbal medicine prescribes individualised multi-herb decoctions, taken by most cancer patients in China to reduce chemotherapy side effects. Cochrane reviews found the hundreds of trials small, unblinded and poorly reported, so whether they help is unknown, and some herbs damage the liver or interact with tyrosine kinase inhibitors through CYP3A4.","route":"/technologies/traditional-chinese-herbal-medicine/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"traditional-chinese-herbal-medicine","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"ukrain","name":"Ukrain (NSC 631570)","tldr":"Ukrain is an injectable product made from the weed greater celandine and promoted as an anticancer drug in parts of Europe and at Tijuana clinics. A few small studies reported benefit, but critics point to a lack of rigour and independent evaluation, and it is not approved in the United States.","route":"/technologies/ukrain/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"ukrain","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma","href":"/cancers/pancreatic/","tip":"Almost every pancreatic tumour carries a KRAS mutation, and for the first time drugs against it work: daraxonrasib nearly doubled survival in previously treated disease in 2026. Pancreatic cancer has been the hardest common cancer to treat once advanced; that is what is starting to change."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"paper-johnson-alternative-medicine-jnci-2018","name":"Use of alternative medicine for cancer and its impact on survival","tldr":"People with curable breast, lung or bowel cancer who chose alternative medicine instead of conventional treatment were two and a half times as likely to die during follow-up as matched patients who had standard treatment.","route":"/key-papers/paper-johnson-alternative-medicine-jnci-2018/","kind":"paper","sub":"Johnson SB, Park HS, Gross CP, Yu JB · JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2018","facets":{"kind":["Key paper"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer","Colorectal cancer","Non-small-cell lung cancer","Prostate cancer"],"year":["2018"]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Key paper","tip":"The papers that changed practice or thinking, each explained: what it found, what it means, and what to be careful about."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."},{"label":"Colorectal cancer","href":"/cancers/colorectal/","tip":"The cancer where screening works best and where immunotherapy can make some tumours disappear entirely; chemotherapy still carries most metastatic disease, now with antibodies and targeted combinations chosen by RAS, BRAF, mismatch repair and which side of the bowel the tumour started on."},{"label":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","href":"/cancers/nsclc/","tip":"Non-small-cell lung cancer is the proving ground for precision medicine: a dozen targetable mutations each with a matched pill, immunotherapy for the rest, and ADCs and bispecifics arriving now. Because most cases are still found late, low-dose CT screening is the other half of the story."}],"year":{"facet":"year","value":"2018"},"tags":[]},"sortKeys":{"year":2018}},{"id":"valerian-root","name":"Valerian root","tldr":"Valerian is a root sold to help sleep and calm nerves. In trials its effect on sleep was no better than a dummy pill, and a study in people with cancer found it did not improve sleep. It can cause drowsiness and has been linked to liver injury in case reports, so it should be stopped a week before surgery.","route":"/technologies/valerian-root/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"valerian-root","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"vitamin-a-supplements","name":"Vitamin A supplements","tldr":"Vitamin A from food matters, but supplements have not prevented lung cancer or lengthened survival in melanoma, and some studies link them to a higher risk of prostate cancer. Because it is stored in the body, high doses taken for months can damage the liver, and it must be avoided in pregnancy.","route":"/technologies/vitamin-a-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"vitamin-a-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","prevention"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"vitamin-b12-supplements","name":"Vitamin B12 supplements","tldr":"Vitamin B12 is essential, and people who lack it, for example after stomach surgery or on long-term metformin or acid-suppressing tablets, need it replaced. Taken as an extra by people who are not deficient it has not been shown to prevent cancer or improve fatigue, and one study linked B12 supplements during chemotherapy with worse outcomes.","route":"/technologies/vitamin-b12-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"vitamin-b12-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"vitamin-b6-pyridoxine","name":"Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) for hand-foot syndrome and other uses","tldr":"Vitamin B6 is often suggested to prevent the sore, peeling hands and feet caused by capecitabine and similar drugs, but several randomised trials found it did not help. Long-term high doses can themselves damage nerves, sometimes permanently.","route":"/technologies/vitamin-b6-pyridoxine/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"vitamin-b6-pyridoxine","sections":["supportive-care","chemotherapy","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"vitamin-e-supplements","name":"Vitamin E supplements","tldr":"Vitamin E supplements were tested to prevent prostate cancer in a very large trial and, after seven years, the men taking them had more prostate cancer, not less. High doses can also increase bleeding in people on the blood thinner warfarin. Small studies of vitamin E for hot flushes, nerve damage and radiotherapy skin reactions are too small to rely on.","route":"/technologies/vitamin-e-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"vitamin-e-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle","prevention"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"wheatgrass-juice","name":"Wheatgrass juice","tldr":"Wheatgrass juice is promoted to detoxify the body and treat cancer, claims no clinical study supports. One small study suggested it may reduce the effect of chemotherapy on the bone marrow in breast cancer, which needs larger trials. Because it is grown and drunk raw, it can carry microbes.","route":"/technologies/wheatgrass-juice/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"wheatgrass-juice","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"wigs-cranial-prosthesis","name":"Wigs, cranial prostheses and head coverings","tldr":"A wig, scarf or cap restores privacy and confidence during hair loss. In the UK wigs come on NHS prescription, free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and in England for children, students under 19 and people on qualifying benefits; in the US a prescription for a 'cranial prosthesis' lets some insurers reimburse one, and charities give wigs free.","route":"/technologies/wigs-cranial-prosthesis/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"wigs-cranial-prosthesis","sections":["rejuvenation","supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"wild-yam-cream","name":"Wild yam and 'natural progesterone' creams","tldr":"Wild yam creams are often sold as 'natural progesterone' for menopause. The body cannot turn the plant compound diosgenin into progesterone; it is only a raw material that laboratories use to make the hormone. A topical wild yam cream did not relieve menopausal symptoms in a trial, and because the plant has oestrogen-like effects, people with hormone-sensitive cancers should check with their team.","route":"/technologies/wild-yam-cream/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"wild-yam-cream","sections":["supportive-care","hormonal"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"yoga-cancer","name":"Yoga during and after cancer treatment","tldr":"Yoga combining postures, breathing and relaxation reduces fatigue, anxiety and low mood and improves sleep and quality of life, on the evidence of a Cochrane review of 24 randomised trials in women with breast cancer. SIO-ASCO guidelines recommend it for fatigue and anxiety during treatment; it does not replace aerobic and resistance exercise.","route":"/technologies/yoga-cancer/","status":"established","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"yoga-cancer","sections":["supportive-care","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","Triple-negative breast cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/breast-hr-positive/","tip":"HR-positive breast cancer is the most common breast cancer, driven by oestrogen. It was treated for years with hormone-blocking pills, now joined by CDK4/6 inhibitors, PI3K-pathway drugs, degraders, and ADCs."},{"label":"Triple-negative breast cancer","href":"/cancers/tnbc/","tip":"A breast cancer that lacks the three receptors (oestrogen, progesterone, HER2) that other breast cancers can be treated through. It was the hardest subtype for decades; since 2020 immunotherapy and ADCs have changed that."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"zeolite-supplements","name":"Zeolite supplements (clinoptilolite, liquid zeolite)","tldr":"Zeolites are volcanic minerals sold as 'detox' and anti-cancer supplements. They have never been tested as a cancer treatment in people. They can bind medicines and stop them being absorbed, may interfere with chemotherapy, and one European product contained high levels of arsenic, lead and mercury.","route":"/technologies/zeolite-supplements/","status":"negative","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"zeolite-supplements","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Neuroendocrine tumours"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Neuroendocrine tumours","href":"/cancers/neuroendocrine/","tip":"A family of usually slow-growing tumours that start in hormone-producing cells of the gut, pancreas and lungs. They pioneered the idea of using the same molecule to see a tumour on a scan and then to treat it with radiation."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"zinc-supplements","name":"Zinc supplements for taste changes and mucositis","tldr":"Zinc is sometimes taken to protect taste or the mouth lining during radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Studies are mixed: it may reduce how often taste changes start during radiotherapy but does little once they have begun, and it did not prevent mouth sores in head and neck cancer. Doses above 100 mg a day can cause harm.","route":"/technologies/zinc-supplements/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"zinc-supplements","sections":["supportive-care","radiation","nutrition-lifestyle"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":[],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}},{"id":"zyflamend","name":"Zyflamend (ten-herb formula)","tldr":"Zyflamend is a commercial blend of ten herbs marketed for healthy inflammation and sometimes used by men with prostate cancer. It slowed prostate cancer in animals, but in people there is only a small safety trial in a precancerous prostate condition and a few case reports, which do not show it works.","route":"/technologies/zyflamend/","status":"phase-2","kind":"technology","schematic":{"id":"zyflamend","sections":["supportive-care"]},"facets":{"kind":["Technology"],"cancers":["Prostate cancer"],"year":[]},"cols":{"kind":{"facet":"kind","value":"Technology","tip":"Every way we see, measure, or attack a tumour, explained."},"cancers":[{"label":"Prostate cancer","href":"/cancers/prostate/","tip":"Prostate cancer is the home of theranostics: PSMA PET finds it, PSMA radioligands treat it. Hormonal therapy remains the foundation, with PARP and AKT inhibitors added by genotype."}],"tags":[{"label":"supportive-care","href":"/tagged/supportive-care/","tip":"Every record tagged supportive-care."}]},"sortKeys":{"year":0}}]