Avenues - Autumn 2004

Update: Pine Street Survival Study

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Full IRB approval for the landmark Pine Street Survival Study has been received and the data-gathering phase is now actively underway (see What is an IRB?). We are conducting a full review of ten year's worth of Pine Street Clinic medical records and carefully auditing the data entry.

We are working with a data set that includes 720 patients (288 with breast cancer, 239 with lung cancer, and 193 with colon cancer). Once complete, this study is going to be one of the largest of its kind in alternative medicine cancer treatment: a ten-year data review with nearly complete follow-up and detailed information on specific vitamin and herbal products used by each subject.

When the data gathering from the Pine Street records is complete, we will begin collaborative work with our colleagues Lawrence Kushi, ScD (Associate Director for Epidemiology at the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente), and Cynthia O'Malley, PhD (research scientist at the Northern California Cancer Center). They will provide access to the survival records of patients with the same diagnoses whose survival time will be compared to patients treated at the Pine Street Clinic.

PHOTO CAPTION
Pine Street researchers Michael Broffman, LAc, and Michael McCulloch,LAc,MPH, reviewing patient medical records and the Pine Street Survival Study research protocol.

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