Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Article Gynecol Obstet Invest 2007;64:75–81 DOI: 10.1159/000099634 Self-Application of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by Patients with Gynecologic Cancer Aygul Akyuz a Murat Dede b Ayse Cetinturk a Tulay Yavan a Mufit Cemal Yenen b S. Umit Sarici c Saffet Dilek d a Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Nursing, Departments of b Obstetrics and Gynecology, and c Pediatrics, Gulhane Military Medical Academy, Ankara, and d Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey critical concern about the probable serious risks associated with non-educated CAM practitioners. Therefore, informed and educated healthcare professionals should inform and help in relieving patients in a more professional and multi- disciplinary way. Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction Every year, 10 million people are diagnosed worldwide as having cancer and 6 million die because of it [1, 2]. Gy- necologic cancers constitute a substantial number of can- cers among women. Endometrium and ovarian cancers are the second and the fourth reasons of cancer among women in the USA [3, 4]. Despite the scientific progress, many diseases such as malignancy, acquired immune deficiency syndrome and multiple sclerosis do not have absolute and permanent therapies [5] . Therefore, patients often refer to comple- mentary and alternative medicine (CAM) practices in ad- dition to conventional treatment modalities. Cancer pa- tients are often unsatisfied with standard medical care and Key Words Complementary and alternative medicine  Gynecologic cancer Abstract Objectives: In this study we aimed to determine the epide- miology and demographic data on complementary and al- ternative medicine (CAM) use along with the medical/surgi- cal treatment modalities in patients with gynecologic cancers in Turkey. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was designed to determine demographic data on CAM use of patients with gynecologic cancers who had medical and/ or surgical treatments. Semistructured questionnaires were used for collecting data from 126 patients. Results: When the CAM use ratio of patients was evaluated with respect to demographic characteristics, patients using any type of CAM were younger and more educated, and there were no significant differences between the patients who used and who did not use any type of CAM with respect to geograph- ical region. There were no significant correlations between the use of CAM and the type of malignancy, treatment mo- dality and time period after diagnosis. Conclusion: There is Received: April 6, 2005 Accepted after revision: November 1, 2006 Published online: February 14, 2007 Murat Dede Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gulhane Military Medical Academy TR–06018 Etlik/Ankara (Turkey) Tel. +90 312 304 5816, Fax +90 312 304 3900 E-Mail mdede@gata.edu.tr © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel 0378–7346/07/0642–0075$23.50/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/goi