So-Called Alternative Medicine (SCAM) for Cancer

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Edzard Ernst

   Pages 1-41

3. Prevention

   • Edzard Ernst

   Pages 43-58

4. Alternative Cancer Cures

   • Edzard Ernst

   Pages 59-125

5. Palliative and Supportive Care

   • Edzard Ernst

   Pages 127-189

6. Risks of SCAM

   • Edzard Ernst

   Pages 191-197

7. Conclusion

   • Edzard Ernst

   Pages 199-205

8. Back Matter

   Pages 207-216

   PDF

Cancer victims are bombarded with misleading information about alternative medicine. Many such treatments try to sell false hope at inflated prices, and many promise a cure without side-effects. This book explains why alternative cancer cures are a fallacious concept. However, it also outlines the important role of alternative medicine in supporting cancer patients and improving their quality of life.

• Alternative Medicine
• Cancer Treatment
• Palliative Care
• Supportive Care
• Integrative Medicine
• Oncology
• Quackery

“This book presents a world of useful science-based information in a very accessible format.” (Harriet Hall, Science-Based Medicine, sciencebasedmedicine.org, September 28, 2021)

• University of Exeter, Cambridge, UK

  Edzard Ernst

​Edzard Ernst was born on 30 January 1948. He went to school in Germany and the US and studied psychology and medicine at the LMU in Munich. In 1977, he qualified as a physician in Germany where he also completed his MD and PhD theses. 
He was Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PMR) at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and Head of the PMR Department at the University of Vienna (Austria). He came to the University of Exeter in 1993 to establish the world’s first Chair in Complementary Medicine. In 1999, he took British nationality. Since 2012, he is Emeritus Professor at the University of Exeter and now lives in Cambridge, UK as well as in Britany, France. 
Professor Ernst is/was founder/Editor-in-Chief of three medical journals (‘Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies’, ‘European Journal of Physical medicine and Rehabilitation’ and ‘Perfusion’). He has been a columnist for many publications (BMJ, GP, PJ, The Guardian, The Independent, The Spectator, etc.). His work has been awarded with 17 scientific awards (most recent: John Maddox Prize 2015 and Ockham Award 2017) and two Visiting Professorships (Canada and US). He served on the ‘Medicines Commission’ of the British ‘Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’ (1994 – 2005). 


Accordin^1000 papers in the peer-reviewed medical literature (H-Index=154, i10-index= 888 [Feb 2021]), > 50 books, translated into over a dozen languages (most recent: Alternative medicine, a critical assessment of 150 modalities, Springer 2019), >100 book-chapters. In 2019, the US ‘Book Authority’ included ‘Trick or Treatment’ (a book authored by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst) in the list of ‘best mental health books of all time’. Prof Ernst has given > 700 invited lectures worldwide, supervised >50 MD and PhD theses, and acted as an expert witness in numerous court cases in the UK, US and Canada.

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