What is oncology?

Oncology - a branch of medicine specialized in cancer

Oncologist - a doctor that is specialized in oncology

What kind of oncologist are you?
Within the oncology world, there are a few type of doctors with different area of specialization.

1. Medical oncologist
Oncologist that treat cancer with systemic treatment e.g. chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy etc.

2. Radiation oncologist
Oncologist that treat cancer with radiation e.g. external beam radiotherapy, brachytherapy etc.

3. Clinical oncologist
Oncologist that is a hybrid between medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. Trained to do both systemic treatment and radiation.

4. Oncology surgeon
A surgeon that is specialized performing surgery for cancers.
They are divided according to the body site i.e. breast and endocrine surgeon, neurosurgeon, ENT surgeon, colorectal surgeon etc.

5. Gynecology oncologist
A special mention of this area. Gynecology oncologists are first trained as obstetrics & gynecology, thereafter further train in gynecology oncology i.e. female genital tract cancers. They are also a hybrid of a medical oncologist and oncology surgeon i.e. giving chemotherapy and performing surgeries for female genital tract cancers

Why the differences between medical, radiation and clinical oncologists?
Some feel that oncology is too broad and should be separated between medical and radiation oncology. Some feel that 1 oncologist should do both.

Currently, UK and Malaysia train mainly clinical oncologists. (not sure about other countries).
Whereas US, Singapore, Australia train medical and radiation oncologist.

For me I feel there are pros and cons in both approaches. I enjoy being a clinical oncology trainee as I get best of both worlds but the downside is there's so much to do!

I will blog about the pathways of becoming an oncologist in Malaysia in the next post. Stay tuned.