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Of all patients with cancer 40 to 70% use complementary or alternative medicine. Alternative medicine is used instead of conventional medicine in opposition to complementary medicine which is used in conjunction with conventional medicine. There is growing evidence that supportive complementary medicine can enhance quality of life of patients with cancer. Yet, attention should be paid to possible interactions with conventional therapies. Integrative medicine refers to a practice that combines both conventional and complementary treatments for which there is evidence of safety and effectiveness. In the United States of America many comprehensive cancer centres run a department of integrative medicine. The society for integrative oncology (SIO) has published evidence based practice guidelines and the forth European Conference of Integrative Medicine (ECIM) will take place in Berlin in October of this year. There is still a great need for more high quality research and training of health professionals in the field of integrative medicine.