Medical (Medical) Oncology
Medical oncology means the treatment of cancer with drugs (chemotherapy). In other words, the branch of science dealing with chemotherapy is called medical oncology. However, it is not only limited to cancer treatment, but also deals with cancer prevention, cancer screening and early diagnosis of cancer. It also determines the cooperation to be made with other treatment fields such as surgery and/or radiology in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. As a result, all cancer-related information such as the type, stage, diagnosis and treatment of cancer fall into the field of medical oncology.
The purpose of chemotherapy
The main purpose of chemotherapy is to completely or partially kill cancerous cells, to stop or slow down their growth, to prevent their spread to other places, and to eliminate the patient`s complaints by correcting the symptoms of the disease. While chemotherapy is the only treatment option for some types of cancer, in others it is used as a supportive treatment to increase the effectiveness of surgical and/or radiotherapy treatments. For example, chemotherapy applied before surgical treatment reduces the tumor and increases the effectiveness of the surgical operation. Chemotherapy administered after surgery prevents the spread of cancer.
Drug selection and administration methods in chemotherapy
Both the choice of drug to be used and the frequency of drug administration vary according to the type, stage, prevalence of the tumor, age, general condition of the patient, presence of other diseases, response to treatment and side effects. Some of the drugs used in chemotherapy are drugs that destroy tumor cells (cytotoxic). Some of them are (cytostatic) drugs that prevent the growth and proliferation of tumor cells. Others are used to reduce or eliminate the side effects of drugs.
