The National Cancer Institute's perspective and agenda for promoting awareness and research on alternative therapies for cancer.

The widespread use of a variety of nutritional, psychologic, and natural medical approaches, collectively termed complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), has been well documented. Recent surveys demonstrate that between 9% and 91% of U.S. patients with cancer use CAM therapies at some time after their diagnosis. However, there is a paucity of data available to indicate whether these CAM practices are efficacious and safe. Despite, or possibly because of, this controversy there has been considerable growth of interest in CAM by the American public. This interest has also resulted in a growth of research resources. Concurrently there has been an expansion of interest in the conventional medical establishment manifested by the creation of Departments of CAM or Integrative Medicine in respected conventional medical institutions, privately funded research centers and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM)/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Communication between conventional and unconventional practitioners is beginning. These changes are leading to a conversion of the dialogue about CAM from a focus on "quackery" to an exploration of the potential for novel therapeutics and the beginnings of focused, rigorous research. The National Cancer Institute is establishing programs to increase the amount and quality of CAM cancer research, support the production of high-quality CAM cancer information, and facilitate the dialogue between CAM practitioners and cancer researchers.