补充和替代 (CAM) 癌症治疗通常价格昂贵且不在保险范围内。因此，许多人转向众筹来获得这种治疗。本研究的目的是通过专门研究墨西哥蒂华纳支持 CAM 癌症治疗的众筹活动，确定癌症患者在国外寻求 CAM 治疗的理由。 GoFundMe.com 和 GiveSendGo.com 众筹平台，用于参考蒂华纳 CAM 癌症诊所的活动，于 2022 年 1 月 1 日至 2023 年 2 月 28 日期间启动。作者创建了一个编码框架，以确定在蒂华纳寻求 CAM 治疗的理由。为了补充活动元数据，我们对受益人的癌症分期、类型、年龄、寻求的具体治疗、受益人是否死亡、性别和种族进行了编码。患者在蒂华纳寻求 CAM 癌症治疗，因为 (1) 治疗提供了最大的疗效 (29.9% ）； （2）国内提供的治疗无效（23.2%）； （3）诊所对人进行全面治疗，关注人的精神层面（20.1%）； (4) 治疗方法无毒、自然或侵入性较小（18.2%）； （5）诊所提供最新技术（8.5%）。活动筹集了 5,275,268.37 美元，大多数活动受益人是女性 (69.7%) 或白人 (71.1%)。这些活动传播了有关 CAM 治疗可能疗效的有问题的错误信息，将资金和认可转移到蒂华纳的 CAM 诊所，并让许多活动家感到失望支付 CAM 治疗所需的资金，同时花费了受益人及其亲人的时间、隐私和尊严。这项研究证实，墨西哥蒂华纳是 CAM 癌症治疗非常受欢迎的目的地。©Jeremy Snyder、Marco Zenone、Ashmita Grewal、Timothy Caulfield。最初发表于 JMIR Cancer (https://cancer.jmir.org)，2024 年 8 月 14 日。

Complementary and alternative (CAM) cancer treatment is often expensive and not covered by insurance. As a result, many people turn to crowdfunding to access this treatment.The aim of this study is to identify the rationales of patients with cancer seeking CAM treatment abroad by looking specifically at crowdfunding campaigns to support CAM cancer treatment in Tijuana, Mexico.We scraped the GoFundMe.com and GiveSendGo.com crowdfunding platforms for campaigns referencing CAM cancer clinics in Tijuana, initiated between January 1, 2022, and February 28, 2023. The authors created a coding framework to identify rationales for seeking CAM treatment in Tijuana. To supplement campaign metadata, we coded the beneficiary's cancer stage, type, age, specific treatment sought, whether the beneficiary died, gender, and race.Patients sought CAM cancer treatment in Tijuana because the (1) treatment offers the greatest efficacy (29.9%); (2) treatment offered domestically was not curative (23.2%); (3) the clinic treats the whole person, and addresses the spiritual dimension of the person (20.1%); (4) treatments are nontoxic, natural, or less invasive (18.2%); and (5) clinic offers the newest technology (8.5%). Campaigns raised US $5,275,268.37 and most campaign beneficiaries were women (69.7%) or White individuals (71.1%).These campaigns spread problematic misinformation about the likely efficacy of CAM treatments, funnel money and endorsements to CAM clinics in Tijuana, and leave many campaigners short of the money needed to pay for CAM treatments while costing beneficiaries and their loved one's time, privacy, and dignity. This study affirms that Tijuana, Mexico, is a very popular destination for CAM cancer treatment.©Jeremy Snyder, Marco Zenone, Ashmita Grewal, Timothy Caulfield. Originally published in JMIR Cancer (https://cancer.jmir.org), 14.08.2024.