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Health and Medicine

Health Care

How does complementary medicine differ from alternative medicine?

Complementary medicine is used together with conventional medicine. An example of complementary medicine is using aromatherapy following conventional surgery. Alternative medicine is used in place of conventional medicine. One example of alternative medicine is treating cancer with a special diet instead of surgery, radiation, and/or chemotherapy. Integrated or integrative medicine combines treatments from conventional medicine with CAM therapies and techniques for which there is evidence of safety and effectiveness.



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