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)

New bladder cancer drug fails first hurdle

Two Food and Drug Administration advisory panels voted 18-6 against use of Mycobacterium phlei cell wall-nucleic acid complex (MCNA), an intravesical drug being evaluated for the treatment of...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

PSA screening declined 18% after USPSTF recommendation

The rate of routine prostate-specific antigen screening among men aged 50 years and older declined 18% during the first year after the 2012 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

VIDEO: PALBI score sharpened liver cancer prognosis

SAN FRANCISCO – The PALBI liver function score measuring platelet count, albumin, and bilirubin was more effective than Child-Pugh score at predicting survival in hepatocellular carcinoma...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

Suicide rate high in patients with head and neck cancer

Patients with head and neck cancer had a threefold higher risk of suicide, compared with the general population, with higher rates among male patients and those with later-stage disease, according to...

Field of Interest: Oncology
Type: News Item

Newsletters

Stay informed on our latest news!

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.