Abstracts

Symposium F: Complementary Medicine & Cancer

27Complimentary and alternative medicine in malehealth in IndonesiaD.M. Soebadi. Dept. of Urology, Soetomo General Hospital,Airlangga University School of Medicine, Surabaya – Indonesia

Complementary and alternative medicine includes

various practices, measures and products, which are

not presently considered to be part of conventional

(mainstream) medicine. In Indonesia, herbal products,

vitamins, minerals and amino acids are increasingly

popular not only for treatment and prevention of various

conditions, but also for improvement of general health

and well-being. Specific conditions related to male health

are wellness, male fertility, aphrodisiac and erectile

function.

CAM products are freely available without prescription,

leaving conventional healthcare providers unaware of

patient’s usage. The essential knowledge is that some

herbal supplements may act similarly to drugs, and

“natural” substances do not mean safety or absence of

potential harm and toxicity. Cases of interactions between

CAM and conventional medications as well as presence

of prescription drugs in CAM preparations have been

reported. Active components of many phytotherapeutic

preparations and their mechanisms of action are still

being studied.

In Indonesia, a traditional product, which is very

popular and commercially important, is the “jamu”. Jamu

contains a mixture of herbal products, with addition of

honey and other substances. Jamu is taken as remedies

for illness as well as wellness by many Indonesian folk.

Thereare scientific evidences for the effectiveness of some

CAM treatments. But for many there are important key

questions yet to be answered through basic research and

well-designed studies according to established guidelines.

Because of the increasing popularity and use of CAM,

male health physicians should be aware and well

informed about the benefits and potential risks of

dietary supplements and other CAM products, in order

to advise patients about their use. Physicians should be

familiar with all medications, whether conventional or

herbal, that their patients are taking. This information

is necessary to prevent, recognize and treat potentially

serious problems associated with herbal medications,

either taken alone or in conjunction with conventional

medications.

Keywords: Complementary and alternative medicine,

herbal, male health, Indonesia

28Understanding and communicating cancer risk

N. Hirahara. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

Background: For healthcare professionals to have better

risk communication with patients, they must have an

accurate picture of their risk perception. Professionals

tend to infer patients’ risk perception solely based on the

biological severity of the cancer such as type, grade, and

stage, but the reality is not as they think.

Objectives: The researchers intend to share the resultof two independent studies that were to assess the risk

perception of treatment held by patients with breast and

blood cancer.

Methods: 193 blood cancer patients were recruited viavoluntary patients organizations in Japan. Similarly, 79

breast cancer patients were recruited in another study.

The participants in both studies responded to a web

questionnaire to judge the likelihood of certain riskytreatment incidents, such as bad treatment result, side

effects of a therapy, recurrence, and medical accident.

Results: A factor analysis revealed that there were three

distinctive factors to which the patients’ risk perceptionpoints, namely “recurrence,” “aggressive treatment,”

and “medical accident.” Hence, we uncovered covert

structure underneath their risk perception: it was not

“monolithic”. Also, the experience of recurrence was theonly variable that influenced patients’ risk perception

among many others including severity of disease, sex,

length of illness, age, and education. An ANOVA found

that lymphoma as well as breast cancer patients ontheir incipient stage were more optimistic in their risk

perception of treatment compared with their recurrent

stage. In contrast, leukemia patients did not differ in

their optimism on treatment risk perception between thetwo treatment stages.

Conclusions: The study concludes that biomedical data

only cannot predict patients’ risk perception of treatment

they receive. Informed consent and risk communicationmust be improved along with actual psychological data

of patients.

Keywords: cancer; risk perception; risk communication;

decision-making; psychology

29Prostate cancer in the aging male

H. Ide, J.S. Yu, Y. Lu, S. Muto, S. Horie. Department ofUrology, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Japan

Several lines of evidence indicate that oxidative stress

may play an important role in carcinogenesis. In the

prostate, the aging process shifts this redox balance

towards a more oxidative state which may be due inpart to a decline of antioxidative enzymes like superoxide

dismutase and catalase. Sustained chronic inflammation

and oxidative stress in the prostate promotes prostate

carcinogenesis. The process of oncogenic transformationleads to enhanced DNA damage and activates the

checkpoint network asan inducible barrier against cancer

progression. We analyzed the effects of testosterone

under oxidative stress in DNA damage response tounderstand the biological function and the network of

this signaling. H2O2 induces apoptosis and DNA damage

response that showed the phosphorylation of ATM (ataxia-

telangiectasia-mutated kinase), H2AX (histone H2AXvariant) and Chk2 (checkpoint kinase2) in LNCaP cells.

ATM inhibitor Ku55933 can block the phospholyration

of H2AX and Chk2. Activation of DNA damage response

and PARP cleavage was increased by testosterone. In

jmh Vol. 8, Suppl. 1, S97–S121, April 2011 S107