THE use of complementary and alternative medicine among cancer patients is to be studied by a team of researchers in Southampton.

Funded by the Department of Health the study is to be carried out by a team led by Jessica Corner, professor of cancer and palliative care at the University of Southampton's school of nursing and midwifery.

The aim of the research is to examine the extent to which natural therapies are used by cancer patients and to compare the experiences of patients who have used them with patients who have not. Researchers will then collate the accounts of the patients' experiences and create a detailed map of the uses and reported effects.

Prof Corner said: "We are very excited because this is one of the first studies to explore the ways in which people with cancer are using complementary and alternative medicine and what benefits they report from using them.

"We are not trying to establish their individual effects on cancer itself but we are trying to establish the place complementary and alternative medicine may have as an adjunct to cancer treatments."

The research team consists of Jackie Yardley and Dr Sian Maslin-Prothero of the University's School of Nursing and Midwifery, Dr George Lewith of the Department of Primary Care, Dr Roger Buchanan from the Southampton University Hospitals Trust and Dr Jane Maher from Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Middlesex.