NCCAM Cancer Research Grants

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, August, 2001 by Jule Klotter

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, Maryland) and the University of Pennsylvania have received research grants of about $8 million over a five-year period from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Johns Hopkins plans four studies with the money. The first two will investigate the relief of cancer pain with the help of antioxidants in tart cherries or the isoflavoness in soy. The third study will look at the safety and effectiveness of a Chinese herbal mixture called PC SPES for the treatment of prostate cancer. PC SPES contains eight herbs including chrysanthemum, licorice, and saw palmetto. The fourth, a six-month study, will research the effect of participation in prayer on the immune function and disease recurrence rates in African-American women with Stage 1 or Stage 2 breast cancer who have had a lumpectomy and radiation therapy.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania will be focusing on the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to treat head and neck tumors. Breathing pure oxygen at twice the atmospheric pressure is known to reverse tissue damage. Stephen R. Thom, MD, PhD, the center's principal investigator and a professor of emergency medicine, states: "Our goals are to try to ascertain, under rigorous methods, the mechanisms of action, safety, and clinical efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen, and to develop and validate a model to say who benefits from this treatment." The researchers will be looking at HBOT's effect on tumors in people who have had radiation treatments but need surgery again.

"New NCCAM Research Centers Study critical CAM-cancer Questions" Complementary & Alternative Medicine at the NIH, Winter 2001.