Clinical outcomes of head and neck cancer patients who refuse curative therapy in pursuit of alternative medicine.

Background: We investigated the alarming trend of curable head and neck cancer (HNC) patients forgoing conventional treatment to pursue alternative medicine (AM).

Methods: A prospectively maintained database identified HNC patients with ≥12 weeks from diagnosis to treatment initiation between 2012 and 2017. Reasons for delay were categorized and clinical stages and outcomes of AM patients were assessed through chart review by December 2019.