What's an Oncologist? What do they do and how do they help people?

Question

Are they somehow related to chemo for those having chemo done to get rid of their cancer?Is anyone here an Oncologist?

Answer 1

I doubt if you could find one here, but your question is correct an Oncologist is one that deals with cancer.

Answer 2

You are partially correct.  An Oncologist is someone who specializes in the treatment of Cancer; that part is correct.  There are different types of Oncologists, though, and that is where things get a little bit complicated.

I have Cancer, and I've seen a few different Oncologists, so I can explain a little bit about the different types to you -- that is, I can explain a little bit about some of the types that I've seen.

I've seen a Medical Oncologist -- my Medical Oncologist is the doctor I'm currently seeing who is prescribing my Chemotherapy regimen.  He determined I would need at least six (6) rounds of Chemo to help shrink my tumor(s) before I would make a good candidate for surgery.

I have either Ovarian Cancer that has spread to my Uterus, or I have Uterine Cancer that has spread to my Ovaries ~ they aren't really sure at this point, and they won't know until they perform the operation to remove my Ovaries, Fallopian Tubes, and Uterus, known as a Radical Hysterectomy.  At the same time, they'll remove anything else in my Abdomen that looks like it's been tainted with Cancer.

I've also seen a Gynecologic Oncologist -- that's the type of doctor who will, ultimately, perform the Radical Hysterectomy surgery.  He is a Gynecologist, in that he specializes in the female reproductive organs, and he's an Oncologist, in that he specializes in Cancer.  Put together, he's a physician who specializes in Cancers of the Female Reproductive Organs; and, since surgery is the primary means of eradicating Cancer from the female reproductive organs, he's primarily a surgeon.

When I was in the process of being diagnosed with Cancer, the type of doctor I saw was a specialist in Hematology & Oncology -- he specialized in disorders of the Blood and Cancer.  If you stop and think, it makes sense to group these two specialties together, since Leukemia is Cancer of the Blood.

My Hematologist/Oncologist ran all sorts of tests to determine what was wrong with me, including a test for the Cancer Marker CA-125, a marker in the blood used to detect Ovarian Cancer.  That's the test that came back positive, which prompted him to do further testing and find the tumors in my reproductive organs.

There can be all kinds of sub-specialties in Oncology, depending on what area of the body in which the Cancer is located.  Oncology is the study of Cancer, and it can be applied as a specialty to any specific area of the body where Cancer can occur.  In my case, I have one doctor to handle the medical/medication side of things, that being the Medical Oncologist, and one doctor to handle the surgical side of things, that being the Gynegologic Oncologist.  Hopefully, I won't need to have any other Oncology-related doctors involved.

If you want to know anything else about this that I can answer, feel free to e-mail me directly through Yahoo!  I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have about Cancer or Chemotherapy.

MinPin

Answer 3

An oncologist is a medical doctor who specializes in the treatment of cancer.   They may sub-specialize in only certain types of cancer as well.

So yes, they may order chemotherapy as a treatment in cases where it is appropriate.