Oncology and its importance in today's world

Everybody knows about cancer and what it can do to the human body. Perhaps the most dreaded (for good reason) and hard to treat the disease to ever hit homo sapiens, cancer claims millions of lives across the world every year.

But few pay attention to what's being done to battle cancer. Apart from a large number of casualties, today, fighting cancer is a possibility. This is where oncology comes in. A branch of medical studies, oncology is dedicated to the studies of cancers and tumours and works towards advancements in treatments to eradicate the disease in time.

Before diving deeper into oncology, let's understand how old cancer is itself.
Early evidence of cancer can be found among fossilised bone tumours, ancient manuscripts and human mummies of ancient Egypt. Various bone abnormalities were found in these mummies, who dated back to about 3000 BC. The papyrus described these conditions to be “incurable”.

What does an Oncologist do?

Doctors who practice oncology (the specialised study of cancer) are called oncologists. Various oncologists have various specific roles. They understand the working and spread of cancer cells, help in the diagnosis of cancer, staging it, and grading the aggressive nature of cancer.

The Oncology Utility-Belt

The most important tool that oncologists have at their disposal when treating a patient is the clinical history of the patient. Common symptoms that point towards cancer include fatigue, weight loss, unexplained anaemia, fever of unknown origin etc.

Other methods like biopsy or extraction of bits of the tumour tissue and examining it under the microscope. Endoscopy inside the oesophagus, imagery techniques like X-rays, MRI scans, ultrasound and other radiological techniques are also used for diagnosis.

The Types of Oncologists

Oncologists usually fall in one of three major categories- Medical oncologists, who treats the cancer with chemotherapy and medications. Surgical oncologist who removes the tumor and affected tissues. Radiation oncologist who treat the patient with radiation therapy.
Treatment of a patient may also involve other relevant specialists. The oncologists are however, the coordinators of the team.

Maintaining Treatment

After the completion of initial therapy, it is the oncologist who is responsible for the further care of the patient to prevent cases of relapse (recurrence) and ensuring remission (remaining cancer-free)

Predictive analysis

Oncology research also involves scanning the population for the disease and screening relatives of patients who have been affected as well in hereditary cancer origin cases.

Oncology going strong

There has been more progress in advanced oncology now more than ever before. Advancements in areas ranging from cancer cell biology to chemotherapy regimens and optimal palliative care and pain relief have proven that Cancer treatment has come a long way and has a continuously changing future.

If you're looking for cancer treatment but may not be able to handle the incurred costs, look for treatment options elsewhere where you can get reputed and quality treatment for much lower prices. For instance, consider Colon cancer treatment cost. The colon cancer treatment cost in India is much lower than what it would cost a patient being treated in say the US or UK. If you're coming from abroad, look for organisations that help you find some of the best oncologists and hospitals in India, and you could save a good amount of funds. 

No comments:

Post a Comment

All on 6 Dental Implants: Get rid of Dentures and false teeth hazards

Can you recall your earliest memories of false teeth? Was it of your great grandfather's dentures slipping away in an effort to say so...