Oncology (from the Ancient Greek onkos (ὄγκος), meaning bulk, mass, or tumor, and the suffix -logy (-λογία), meaning "study of") is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist.

Oncology is concerned with:

The diagnosis of any cancer in a person
Therapy (e.g. surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and other modalities)
Follow-up of cancer patients after successful treatment
Palliative care of patients with terminal malignancies
Ethical questions surrounding cancer care
Screening efforts:

of populations, or
of the relatives of patients (in types of cancer that are thought to have a hereditary basis, such as breast cancer)

Psoriasis patients post above-average cancer rates

CHICAGO – Malignancy rates in patients with psoriasis outstrip those in the general population, based on data from a retrospective analysis of commercial claims. Rates for all cancers were similar...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

Unnecessary cancer screening "substantial" in U.S.

A substantial proportion of older adults in the United States undergo unnecessary and even harmful screening for colon, prostate, breast, and cervical cancer, contrary to clear guidelines that are...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

ASCO and AACR call for stronger e-cigarette regulation

A Food and Drug Administration proposal to regulate e-cigarettes does not go far enough, the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Association for Cancer Research say. The two...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

Benefits outweigh harms of aspirin therapy

Prophylactic aspirin therapy of at least 5 years’ duration has a favorable benefit-harm profile, primarily because of its effectiveness in preventing colorectal and other cancers, according to a...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

Medical consultation rates for surgical cases vary

The use of inpatient medical consultations for hospitalized surgical patients was found to vary by hospital, but consultations didn’t appear to have much of an impact on risk-adjusted 30-day...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

Bisphosphonates don’t cut risk of breast cancer

Three to four years of therapy with the bisphosphonates alendronate and zoledronic acid, taken at doses used to treat osteoporosis, did not decrease the risk of incident breast cancer in...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

Gut bacteria populations may predict colon cancers

The addition of a gut microbiome analysis to fecal occult blood testing improved the accuracy of standard colorectal cancer screening by more than 50-fold. The expanded analysis not only...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

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