Prevalence of complementary medicine in urologic practice - A review of recent studies with emphasis on use among prostate cancer patients

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has been used since antiquity for the relief of symptoms related to many diseases including urologic ailments. CAM is typically defined as those healing philsophies, approaches and therapies that are generally not taught in medical schools and are not usually reimbursed by medical insurance companies. Complementary and alternative medicine therapies are distinguished as those used alone (alternative) or in addition to conventional therapies (complementary). Few studies have focused on the uxologic population. In this article, we summarize recent studies assessing the prevalence rate of CAM use with special emphasis in prostate cancer patients.