And complementary approaches can be remarkably useful. Barrie Cassileth, MD, who heads up the Integrative Medicine Outpatient Center at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, agrees. Probably the most broadly effective, safe, and helpful complementary therapy is massage. Other helpful approaches include mind-body techniques, such as progressive relaxation. Music therapy is also great as a way to help patients relax and relieve the inevitable tension they experience while fighting cancer.
Proponents believe that's reason enough to offer therapies that are safe and noninvasive.
Fortunately, evidence from clinical trials is beginning to suggest that certain alternative techniques offer measurable benefits. At Stanford University Medical Center, psychiatrist David Spiegel, MD, has been testing the power of such mind-body techniques to improve quality of life. This question sparks fierce controversy. Some, in fact, are still sold despite convincing evidence that they are worthless. One worry is that unscrupulous purveyors of quack medicine are taking advantage of patients' desperation.