Markethealthbeauty.com | Oncology Definition, Types, and Duties of Oncologist – Oncology has come from the Greek “onkos” meaning mass or tumor and the suffix –ologi which means science. In literature, this means the study of cancer. Know more clearly what is oncology, type, and duties of oncologist, etc.
Oncology Definition
Oncology is a branch of medical science that focuses on cancer. Oncology is divided into several subspecialty, namely medical oncology, radiation, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, and hematology.
In oncology, everything related to cancer will be studied, including how to diagnose, care, treat, or prevent it. A doctor who studied medical oncology is referred to as an oncologist.
Oncology Types
Based on the treatment action given, oncology is divided into medical oncology, surgical oncology, and radiation oncology.
Medical Oncology
Medical oncology is an oncology that focuses on cancer treatment and treatment using chemotherapy, hormone therapy, target therapy, and immunotherapy.
Surgical oncology and Radiation Therapy
While surgical oncology is a branch of oncology that focuses on cancer treatment through surgical procedures, and radiation oncology focuses on cancer treatment through radiation therapy.
It is known that cancer is the second deadliest disease in the world, with 9.6 million deaths every year or the equivalent of 1 new sufferer every 3 seconds. It’s horrible, isn’t it?
The numbers are increasing over the years, this is clearly a particular concern in the medical world. Therefore, science and medical experts, especially in the field of oncology are increasingly sought after.
In addition to the treatment, oncology can also be divided into several subspecialty based on the type of cancer treated, namely pediatric oncology, orthopedic oncology, gynecological oncology, and hematological oncology.
Pediatric oncology studies the treatment of cancer in children, including their treatment and care. While gynecological oncology focuses on cancers that attack the female reproductive system (vagi**na, uterus, cervix, or ovaries), and hematological oncology focuses on blood-related cancers, namely leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.
Oncologist duties
Then, what are the tasks that are commonly performed by these oncologists? The duties of oncologists are to help diagnose cancer, assist in treating cancer and help with prevention efforts. Here is a complete explanation of each sub-deployment of oncologists.
Helping Diagnose Cancer
This is the first step that needs to be done by oncologists to recognize the disease suffered by their patients. The usual things to do at this stage of diagnosis are to perform physical examinations, blood tests, urine tests, imaging tests and also biopsies. This is done to determine the type of disease and the severity of the disease in the patient.
Helping In Treating Cancer
Once the doctor knows the disease and the severity of the patient’s disease, then the doctor will begin to perform the treatment method. These treatment methods can be surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, target therapy and hormone therapy.
Of course the use of methods in each patient will differ depending on the type of disease and also the severity. In addition to the methods that have been mentioned, the doctor will also provide some medications, of course to help relieve the pain of the side effects of treatment methods that have been carried out by the patient.
Helping To Prevent Efforts
Last is prevention efforts, this prevention effort is done so that the patient’s disease does not relapse or reappear. This is usually done in the form of regular control that has been scheduled with a doctor, either with an oncologist or other specialists.
So that’s some of the duties of the oncologist in dealing with his patients. Starting from diagnosing, treating to prevent patients with cancer. They not only do everything independently, but also with some help by other specialist doctors.
An example is with the help of hematologists to perform blood checks or even in the treatment methods of patients with leukemia and other blood cell cancers.
