Medical oncology is the field of medicine that deals with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer with the use of chemotherapy, targeted therapy, hormone therapy and/or immunotherapy. If you have been diagnosed with cancer, your primary doctor will be a medical oncologist, who will work not only to help and support you throughout the treatment process but will also coordinate with other doctors to ensure holistic care.

Types of Oncology Treatment Services

The most commonly used treatments by medical oncology departments and cancer hospitals include the following:

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the most commonly used treatment for cancer. It involves using drugs that destroy cancer cells by entirely stopping or slowing down their growth. Chemotherapy is generally used to treat recurrent cancers (when cancer cells reemerge after treatment) or metastatic cancers (cancer cells that spread to other parts of the body). Chemotherapy drugs can be administered orally, intravenously, or injected directly into the fluid surrounding the brain or the abdominal cavity, depending on the specific diagnosis.

There are three types of chemotherapy.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy: Usually done before the surgical or radiation procedures. It is recommended when the tumours are too big to be operated or when the location of the tumour is difficult to operate. The drugs used in Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy reduce the size of the tumour to enable surgery.
Adjuvant chemotherapy: Delivered after surgical or radiation procedures. It helps clean up any remaining cancer cells that are not visible in the imaging tests. This treatment helps to reduce the chances of recurrence of cancer.
Palliative chemotherapy: This is recommended to manage the symptoms of chronic cancer to improve quality of life.

Side-Effects of Chemotherapy

Apart from destroying the cancerous cells, chemotherapy drugs also tend to destroy the rapidly dividing healthy cells present in the intestines, mouth, etc., which results in some side effects. The side effects of chemotherapy generally disappear once the treatment ends. Some side effects of chemotherapy include:

Hair loss
Vomiting or nausea
Anaemia
Fatigue
Diarrhoea
Mouth sores
Low platelet count

Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapy is an advanced cancer care treatment that uses drugs to target the specific proteins and genes found in the cancer cells and other cells related to cancer growth. The drugs stop the spread of cancer to other parts of the body.

There are two types of targeted therapy:

Small Molecule Drug Therapy: These drugs reach inside the cancer cells and target the proteins, and block the signals for cell division and cell growth.
Monoclonal Antibodies: These are laboratory-made antibodies, similar to the antibodies produced by the immune system. They target the proteins in the cancer cells and destroy them.

Side-Effects of Targeted Therapy

Although targeted therapy is less harmful than chemotherapy, it does have some rare side effects, such as:

Liver inflammation
Diarrhoea
Acne or skin rashes
Bleeding
Hair depigmentation
High blood pressure
Gastrointestinal perforation
Impaired sperm production
Blood clotting problems

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is an innovative procedure in medical oncology that uses the body's own immune cells to stop the spread of cancer. The procedure activates the body's immune mechanism to destroy the infected cells. Medical oncologists use immune cells from the patient’s body or laboratory-made treatments to improve the functioning of the immune system.

Immunotherapy can be categorized into three types:

Drug Therapy: Drugs are used to boost the immune system and create antibodies to destroy the cancer cells.
Dendritic Cell Therapy: This therapy involves the use of T-cells to fight cancer cells. T-cells are taken from the patient’s blood and sent to the laboratory for modification. The modified T-cells are then injected into the patient’s body to fight infection and destroy cancer.
Cancer Vaccines: Cancer vaccines are injected to boost the immune system to produce antibodies to kill the antigens and other materials that cause the growth of the cancer cells.

Side-Effects of Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy focuses on improving the functioning of the immune system but might result in some side effects, such as:

Allergic reactions
Inflammation
Pneumonitis
Fluid retention
Skin blisters, dryness or redness
Fatigue
Body ache
Dizziness
High or low blood pressure
Edema