Progress in cancer treatment is remarkable and the importance of palliative care is more and more recognized. However, adverse reactions or events in these modern measures have also caused a lot of problems. On the other hand, acupuncture and herbal medicine have been used in many fields of health care, including cancer treatment and palliative care. Recently, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted to seek evidence in acupuncture and herbal medicine. These therapeutic measures are usually supportive for major treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, for example, in order to attenuate side effects of chemotherapy. Palliative care needs physical, psychiatric, social, and spiritual aspects, and acupuncture and herbal medicine have great advantage from the viewpoint of holistic care.

The main focus of this special issue will be on the roles and significance of basic research on action mechanisms and clinical studies on the efficacy and safety of acupuncture and herbal medicine in cancer treatment, attenuation of side effects, and palliative care. The special issue will become an international forum for researches to summarize the most recent developments and ideas in the field. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Acupuncture and herbal medicine for cancer pain
• Acupuncture and herbal medicine for fatigue and quality of life of cancer patients
• Acupuncture and herbal medicine for attenuation of side effects of cancer treatments
• Randomized controlled trials on acupuncture and herbal medicine for cancer patients
• Interaction of acupuncture and herbal medicine with conventional treatments
• Guidance on the safety of herbal medicine to prevent the potential risks to cancer patients

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/ecam/ahc/ according to the following timetable: