Complementary and alternative medicine in cancer - A qualitative study on the Internet offer in Spanish-speaking South America

Background: The number of people with cancer using complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasing. However, CAM may have interactions with conventional cancer therapies. In addition, alternative medicine procedures may result in significant health risks. Because of the Internet, regional CAM methods easily spread globally. This study aims at evaluating CAM procedures offered on Spanish-speaking South American websites and assessing the quality of these websites.

Methods: An Internet search was carried out in nine Spanish-speaking countries in South America. Websites were analysed using a standardized tool.

Results: In total, 85 websites, with a wide range of 158 different CAM procedures were evaluated. The vast majority of websites had poor content and formal quality. Overall, no website was rated as very good and only two websites could be rated as good. Among the most commonly mentioned South American methods were an Aloe- mixture called "Fray Romano", graviola, uncaria tomentosa (Cat's claw), the "Método HANSI" and components of the lapacho tree.

Conclusions: There is an urgent need for quality-assured, easy-to-find sites with high quality for Spanish speaking persons in South America. Several of the methods have already spread to Europe as graviola or uncaria.