Oncology is the branch of medicine dealing with tumors (cancer). A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. The term originates from the Greek "Ογκολογία" derived from onkos (όγκος), meaning bulk, mass, or tumor, and the suffix -logy (-λογία), meaning "study of" or "to talk about".
Oncology is concerned with:
The most important diagnostic tool remains the medical history: the character of the complaints and any specific sympt...
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Oncology is the branch of medicine dealing with tumors (cancer). A medical professional who practices oncology is an oncologist. The term originates from the Greek "Ογκολογία" derived from onkos (όγκος), meaning bulk, mass, or tumor, and the suffix -logy (-λογία), meaning "study of" or "to talk about".
Oncology is concerned with:
The most important diagnostic tool remains the medical history: the character of the complaints and any specific symptoms (fatigue, weight loss, unexplained anemia, fever of unknown origin, paraneoplastic phenomena and other signs). Often a physical examination will reveal the location of a malignancy.
Diagnostic methods include:
Apart from in diagnosis, these modalities (especially imaging by CT scanning) are often used to determine operability, i.e. whether it is surgically possible to remove a tumor in its entirety.
Generally, a "tissue diagnosis" (from a biopsy) is considered essential for the proper identification of cancer. When this is not possible, ...
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