Profile of cancer patients who sought alternative care of Siddha at the AyothidasPandithar Hospital, National Institute of Siddha, 2017-2022

Abstract: Background Cancer is the second most common cause of death and one of the most difficult non-communicable diseases to treat.The Tamil Nadu Cancer Registry Project has shown that for Tamil Nadu's population of 80 million, the crude incidence rate (CIR) of all cancers per 1,00,000 population was 93.9 for women and 74.4 for men, with the highest CIR in Chennai (140.8). The Siddha medical system can treat all ailments, and research has proven that Siddha drugs can effectively treat cancer. Objective This study explored the characteristics of cancer patients who sought alternative treatment of Siddha at Ayothidas Pandithar Hospital (APH) at the National Institute of Siddhafrom 2017 to 2022. Methods The patient data was collected retrospectively from the hospital-based cancer registry at the special OPD of APH from January 2017 to December 2022. The diagnosis of the cases and treatment were taken as reported and documented in the patient record. MS Office was used for data entry and creating charts. Descriptive statistics were calculated using SPSS software for Windows (version 21.0, Chicago, IL, USA), and the map was drawn using ArcGIS version 10 software (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) Results A total of 1131 cancer patients attended the Siddha Special OPD at APH. Significantly more men (55.4%) opted for alternative Siddha therapy. A higher percentage of patients (31%) belonged to the 60 to 69 year age group.Based on the stromal histological features, 82% were found to be malignant.The two most prevalent cancers were gastrointestinal Cancer (45%) and gynecological Cancer (21%). Also, the most common tumors sought alternative treatment were gastrointestinal cancers in males (44%) and gynecological cancers (49%) in women. Siddha regimen was more than one-third (36%) of the patients' first course of treatment, and 17% received more than one therapy.Five percent of the patients were diagnosed and treated on the same day, with the alternative Siddha treatment, while 29% were within a month. Most of the patients (95%) were from Tamil Nadu, and their geographical distribution was dispersed all over the state. Conclusion The study examined the characteristics and treatment-seeking behavior of APH cancer patients seeking alternative therapies. The study's findings suggest that further investigation is necessary to comprehend the outcome of Siddha cancer treatment and to propagate that Siddha cancer therapy is safe and helpful.