Researchers in Ottawa, Ontario, have received the largest-ever North American grant—in the amount of $3.85 million grant—to the study of the effectiveness of naturopathic medicine used in combination with conventional medicine to treat cancer patients. The Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre, an arm of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, announced the award on October 21, 2014.
A private Canadian foundation wishing to remain anonymous provided the grant money to fund a project that will develop and study the use of integrative treatments for esophageal, gastric, and lung cancer patients who undergo surgery.
Called the Thoracic Peri-Operative Integrative Surgical Care Evaluation (Thoracic POISE), the project has 2 goals. First, it will pioneer integrative care interventions for use before and after cancer surgery. These interventions will involve different therapeutic approaches, healthcare professionals, and disciplines working together to achieve optimal health and patient outcomes. Second, the project will fund a randomized controlled trial to evaluate if the integrative care approach reduces adverse events and improves disease-free survival. A network of Canadian thoracic surgery centers, in partnership with naturopathic doctors, will collaborate over the next 11 years in this 300-patient study.
