Is low-level laser therapy an effective lymphedema treatment? Can acupressure reduce cancer related fatigue? Might green tea reduce breast cancer risk? These are among the more than 50 research questions now being studied in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) breast cancer trials throughout the United States.  

But it wasn't always this way. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, most doctors, oncologists included, paid little attention to what were then thought of as "unconventional" therapies. But as public interest grew in alternative treatments such as vitamins and supplements, traditional Chinese medicine treatments like acupuncture, and mind-body therapies like yoga and progressive muscle relaxation, the mainstream medical field began to take notice.  

The real wake-up call came in January 1993, when a research group from Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that a third of the roughly 1500 adults surveyed reported using at least one "unconventional" therapy in the past year, and that a third of these adults saw "unconventional" providers. With each visit costing about $30.00, this suggested that Americans were currently spending about $13.7 billion a year on these treatments.