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Medical Oncology

The branch of medical science that deals with cause, diagnosis and treatment of cancer is known as oncology. A doctor specializing in this branch is called an oncologist.

Oncology deals with issues like diagnosis of cancerous diseases, giving different therapies like chemotherapy, radiotherapy etc and proper follow up of cured patients and their palliative care.

On the basis of type of specialization, oncologists can be divided into different subgroups. A surgical oncologist is a surgeon who has expertise in removing tumors while a medical oncologist deals with chemotherapy and medications. Similarly a radiation oncologist treats cancer using radiotherapy. In actual practice, a team of oncologists is a multi disciplinary team to take care of patients using physiotherapy, clinical genetic, psychological counseling etc. Some important tools of diagnosis include Biopsy, X-rays, MRI scanning, endoscopy, blood tests ultrasound etc.

An important job of an oncologist post treatment is proper follow up of patients. Apart from dealing with the problems of patients and continuing with their treatment, oncologists also often face many ethical dilemmas like the amount of information that should be given to patients regarding the extent of their illness or withdrawal of treatment in case it proves futile. These questions require human sensitivity apart from medical knowledge and are a part of oncologist’s daily life.