To determine differences in antibiotic prescription rates between conventional General Practice (GP) surgeries and GP surgeries employing general practitioners (GPs) additionally trained in integrative medicine (IM) or complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) (referred to as IM GPs) working within …

Background: Despite improvement of tumour response rates in patients with progressive and metastatic cancer, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICM) induce toxicities in cancer patients. Viscum album L. (VA, mistletoe) extracts are applied as add-on cancer therapy especially in German speaking countries and …

In deze notitie beschrijven wij de aanleiding tot het ontwikkelen van een strategische onderzoeksagenda voor de vaktherapeutische beroepen in Nederland, de stand van zaken in de wetenschappelijke onderbouwing van werkingsmechanismen en effecten van “vaktherapie”, alsmede de concrete onderzoeksagenda …

Background: In Western healthcare policies, promotion of self-management of patients is an important topic. Currently, there is also a worldwide interest in the integration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and conventional medicine into integrative medicine. This article explores the contribution …

Background: Accounting for the patients’ perspective on quality of care has become increasingly important in the development of Evidence Based Medicine as well as in governmental policies. In the Netherlands the Consumer Quality (CQ) Index has been developed to measure the quality of care from the patients’ …

Background. There is an increasing need for a worldwide professional integration of conventional medicine and traditional/complementary whole medical systems (WMSs). However, the integration is perceived by conventional medicine as problematic or unacceptable, because of a supposed lack of evidence for …

Background: Immune-related adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to immunotherapy agents have been associated with beneficial clinical outcomes in oncology. Viscum album L. (VA, European mistletoe) is frequently used as an immunomodulatory agent alongside conventional cancer treatment in Europe. VA has been …

Background: Pancreatic cancer has a dire prognosis and is associated with a high mortality. Palliative patients have special needs and often seek help in integrative oncological concepts (IO) that combine conventional and complementary therapies. Nevertheless there are few recommendations regarding IO …

Purpose. So-called spontaneous remissions in cancer often seem to occur after febrile events. Mistletoe preparations (MPs) are used off-label intravenously to induce fever within concepts of integrative oncology. We wanted to investigate the frequency of febrile reactions and safety related to intravenously …

This special issue will look in more detail at how CIM research is addressing these key questions; what is clear is that it is time to be counted so that CIM actions can be considered on a level playing field with alternative potential ways of investing in health.