Alternative centre for cancer treatment opens in US CMAJ 1997;157:504 © 1997 Canadian Medical Association Alternative cancer treatments appear to be entering the mainstream in the US. This spring the Gerson Institute opened its first "alternative cancer treatment centre" in Arizona. The centre, which has been licensed by the Arizona Department of Health, employs physicians, homeopathic doctors and nurses. The institute, founded by the late Dr. Max Gerson, uses a therapy that stresses the importance of diet, detoxification and "therapeutic supplementation to reactivate and strengthen the immune system." The Arizona centre joins an existing Gerson facility operating in Mexico. No scientific proof of the Gerson treatments has been published in a major peer-reviewed journal, although a report on melanoma treatment appeared in Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine in September 1995. Many insurance companies still balk at paying for the treatment. The institute says about 60% of patients treated in Mexico have been reimbursed by their insurance carriers. Send a letter to the editor responding to this article Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction au sujet de cet article | CMAJ September 1, 1997 (vol 157, no 5) / JAMC le 1er septembre 1997 (vol 157, no 5) |