Cancer Specialist

Cancer is a complex and deadly disease and therefore one needs to see a cancer specialist during treatment. Often, treatment involves the combined effort of several specialists. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are the three basic ways of treating cancer. Other treatment methods are hormone therapy and immunotherapy.

Cancer patients do not require all the above treatment methods. Sometimes however, the patient may require for example surgery first then chemotherapy afterwards. Here, the patient may require a surgery specialist and later a chemotherapy specialist. Sometimes, one doctor can handle both. In all these, a positive attitude towards being healed will go along way in helping the treatment work.

A medical oncologist conducts regular checkups. An oncologist oversees the general care of the patient and also coordinates treatments with other cancer specialists. An oncologist is also in charge of chemotherapy, hormone therapy and immunotherapy. Radiation oncologists treat cancer with radiation therapy and are specialists in reading X-rays, CT scans, MRIs and other types of imaging tests. A surgical oncologist is a surgeon who has trained to treat cancer by removing tumors or cancerous tissue.

The type and stage of cancer determines the type of specialist a patient needs. For example patients with blood, bone marrow and lymph node disorders may need to see a hematologist. Sometimes surgery may be performed by a general surgeon instead of a surgical oncologist and a patient may need to see a plastic surgeon if he or she needs reconstructive surgery after treatment. Experience, good training and openness of the doctor to the patient's questions determine a good cancer specialist.


Mercy Maranga Reports on Health and Fitness issues. Visit Her Site here for more information on cancer and its treatment Cancer