The BMJ defines evidence-based medicine¹ as:
“the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients”
It’s a constantly evolving definition and at Pseudomyxoma Survivor, we always look for scientific evidence to back up suggested treatment plans for pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) and appendix cancer patients.
Sometimes, topics are discussed in our support group for which there is no evidence that it works. This recent article from the BBC² discusses the impact of crowdfunding on the takeup of alternative cancer treatments. Treatments which may have previously been cost prohibitive to many. It also takes a view of which of these work and which don’t, based on evidence.
¹’Evidence based medicine: what it is and what it isn’t’, BMJ 1996;312:71, accessed September 2018
²’Crowdfunded cancer treatments – do they work?’ Laurel Ives, BBC Health, accessed September 2018
My younger brother was diagnosed with Peritoneal cancer originally about 7-8 years. He had surgery by Dr Graves in Sacramento and was told the cancer could come back in about 5-6 years. He did well after his initial surgery but symptoms began returning about 6 years later. The oncologist he was seeing key wanting him to wait before seeing Dr Graves again. When he finally received a referral to see Dr Graves, he was told his only hope was to have a second surgery and he agreed. During the second surgery, his intestine was nicked by a scalpel and fecal matter was released into his stomach. They tried every antibiotic that might work to no avail. He was in terrible pain for several weeks, the came sepsis and there was no hope for a cure unless they did a colostomy. My brother had stated to me he did not want a colostomy/ bag under any circumstances so I had to make that decision. He was 76. Reading this article published was very informative for me. He had read everything he could on the cancer and I had also. He was told by someone that this mucinous type cancer was very rare and was not a type that was hereditary. I hope that is true. Thank you again for your informative article,