During and after treatments for cancer multiple complementary therapies can provide some benefit to patients as well as to their families. These treatments address needs that at times are not being addressed by conventional healthcare. The main benefit that these treatments provide is improvement in quality of life and enhanced wellbeing. Rather than competing with conventional cancer care, complementary therapies are complementing conventional care as part of comprehensive cancer care.
Gradually, a more integrated approach to treating/managing cancer patients is evolving. An approach that utilizes various combinations of the two disciplines, conventional and complementary medicine as one integrated healthcare system.