Abstract
In October 2013, more than 300 researchers, clinicians, patient advocates, and patients joined together at the historic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for the 10th International Conference of the Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO). This conference was held to examine the growing evidence base for complementary therapies and practices currently being used in cancer care and the rapid translation of that literature into standard care and best practice guidelines. The conference theme, “Translational Science in Integrative Oncology: From Bedside to Bench to Best Practices,” encouraged conference attendees to consider how the growing evidence base on the efficacy of integrative therapies for cancer prevention and control can be effectively translated to clinical practice to improve the lives of people affected by cancer. The conference’s intensive schedule included 3 keynotes, 6 plenaries, 46 concurrent sessions, 2 interdisciplinary tumor boards, 11 workshops, and 69 posters. Another notable feature of the Conference was the hosting of 12 patient advocate scholars from the United States and Canada through an R13 grant sponsored by the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), bringing a wealth of knowledge and passion from their extensive experience of working with people living with cancer and their families. This funding reflects the ongoing implementation plan by SIO to create an international cohort of patient advocates who have the evidence and skills required to advocate for the uptake of evidence-based integrative therapies in cancer care. Keynote addresses were presented by medical historian Victoria Sweet, MD, PhD (University of California, San Francisco), leading physical activity researcher Kerry S. Courneya, PhD (University of Edmonton), and Frank Meyskens, MD, FACP (University of California, Irvine) who provided an overview of chemoprevention using natural health products.
The conference focused on several plenary sessions. At the first plenary session on knowledge translation, several speakers addressed the need for strategies to support the transfer of research findings to both cancer patients and oncology health professionals. A presentation by Sunita Vohra, MD (University of Alberta) reported on a novel approach to monitoring natural health product–drug interactions using a population-based surveillance database that captured provider-reported information about natural health product–drug combination outcomes. Lynda Balneaves, PhD, RN (University of British Columbia) presented The MyChoices Project, an intervention trial testing the effect of a decision aid on knowledge and decision-making outcomes among women with breast cancer who are seeking complementary therapies to manage their menopausal symptoms. Dugald Seely, ND, MSc (Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre) reviewed the process of working through a series of systematic reviews, including the use of meta-analysis on specific therapies relevant to integrative oncology, and discussed the limitations and challenges of synthesizing, sharing, and using this type of evidence. Michelle Kohn, MBBS, BSc, FRCP (LOC: Leaders in Oncology Care) discussed barriers to knowledge uptake in integrative oncology using her professional experience in directing the Living Well Programme in London, United Kingdom.
A conference highlight was a joint plenary session presented by SIO and the American Society of Preventive Oncology (http://www.aspo.org), which was designed to foster collaborative bridges between research organizations. This session featured presentations on challenges and recruitment and retention strategies in behavior change research (Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, PhD, RD, University of Alabama at Birmingham); a review of mind–body interventions (Anita Kinney, PhD, University of New Mexico); a discussion of study design issues in diet and physical activity research (Karen Basen-Enquist, PhD, MPH, MD Anderson Cancer Center); and survivorship research resources, including the Women’s Health Initiative Cancer Survivor Cohort (Electra Paskett, PhD, Ohio State University Cancer Center).
A third plenary highlighted data on mind–body interventions designed to reduce stress and improve social support for cancer patients and survivors. In this symposium, Susan Lutgendorf, PhD (University of Iowa) provided an overview of recent advances in our ability to study and detect stress influences in cancer markers and disease progression. Linda Carlson, PhD, CPsych (University of Calgary and Tom Baker Cancer Centre) presented an example of clinical research on mindfulness-based and supportive interventions that affect a range of potentially important biomarkers in breast cancer survivors. Joanne Stephen, PhD (British Columbia Cancer Agency) discussed the potential of disseminating mind–body interventions through the Internet, with reference to research on an innovative pan-Canadian psychosocial intervention “CancerChatCanada.”
Other highlights from plenary sessions included presentation of data on the potential role of the microbiome and probiotics for chemoprevention and treatment of cancer, including clinical trial results describing the use of probiotics as a component of supportive care among children and adolescents (Paul Rogers, MD, University of British Columbia; Gregory Plotnikoff, MD, MTS, FACP, Penny George Institute for Health and Healing; David Mack, MD, University of Ottawa; Satya Prakah, PhD, McGill University; Elena Ladas, PhD, RD, Columbia University); a review of recently published guidelines on the use of integrative oncology for lung cancer in Chest 1 along with a description of future SIO guidelines in development (Gary Deng, MD, PhD, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Heather Greenlee ND, PhD, Columbia University; and Suzanna Zick, ND, MPH, University of Michigan); and a description of the spectrum of basic, clinical and health services research that has been conducted on cannabis within the context of cancer care (Lynda Balneaves, PhD, RN, University of British Columbia; Donald Abrams, MD, University of California, San Francisco; and patient advocate David Hutchinson, British Columbia, Canada).
The SIO’s 11th
Footnotes
Authors’ Note
Presented in association with the Department of Continuing Medical Education, School of Medicine, University of British Columbia, the School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, and the British Columbia Cancer Agency.
Funding
The conference received support from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute and National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (R13CA183288), the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Lotte and John Hecht Memorial Foundation, and the Weil Foundation.