Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine

Chapter 1 / CAM and CVD 1
1 Complementary and Alternative
Medicine in the Prevention
and Treatment of Cardiovascular
Disease
An Introduction
Richard A. Stein, MD,
and Mehmet C. Oz, MD
CONTENTS
WHY THE NEED FOR A KNOWLEDGE BASE
REGARDING CAM?
WHAT THE PHYSICIAN MUST KNOW REGARDING
CAM AND CVD
A TEMPLATE FOR ASSESSING INFORMATION ON CAM
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
The knowledge base required to diagnose and treat cardiovascular
disease (CVD) is large and rapidly expanding, although the amount of
time available to physicians and other health care providers to acquire
this information is finite and shrinking. As clinicians, we are required to
triage new information with respect to its importance and value to our
clinical mission and to the time and effort required to learn and incorporate
it into our practices. Thus, three important questions to address at the
beginning of this book are: (1) “Why do I need to know about complimentary
and alternative medicine (CAM)?” (2) “What do I need to know
From: Contemporary Cardiology
Complementary and Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine
Edited by: R. A. Stein and M. C. Oz © Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ
1