What is Medical Oncology?

Medical Oncology is the stream of cancer care that works towards curing cancers effectively using Chemotherapy, Immunotherapy, Hormonal Therapy and Targeted Therapy. The team of expert Oncologists works in collaboration with Surgical and Radiation Oncology specialists to ensure that the best outcomes are achieved by diagnosing and devising the right treatment plan. The Department of Medical Oncology at Meitra Hospital is adept at providing comprehensive cancer care to patients suffering from all types of tumours, specialised chemotherapy in its OPD and day care services.

Under Medical Oncology at Meitra Hospital, following types of conditions are treated mainly:

• Breast Cancer
• Ovarian Cancer
• Colorectal cancer
• Lung cancer
• Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer
• Urological cancer
• Melanoma
• Leukaemia

Chemotherapy is a type of oncology treatment wherein drugs are used to kill the cancer cells. This treatment methods either stops or slows down the rapidly growing and dividing cancer cells. It also has the risk of harming the healthy cells, especially the ones in your mouth or intestines or the ones responsible for hair growth. Damage caused due chemotherapy to the healthy cells may result in severe side effects that may go after the therapy is over. Chemotherapy is an effective cancer care treatment method to help destroy the recurring cancer cells or the ones that may spread to the other parts of the body.

One of the ground breaking innovations in cancer care, Cancer Immunotherapy activates the immune cells to help them fight against the cancer cells. This is more of a personalised treatment that helps in enhancing the defence mechanism of the body to fight and destroy the cancer cells by using the patient’s healthy cells. The treatment methods under cancer immunotherapy include cancer vaccines, drug therapy and dendritic cell therapy.

Targeted Therapy is done to treat cancer by using drugs. This is a completely different treatment method in comparison to traditional method of chemotherapy in which specific genes or proteins found in the cancer cells are targeted or the other cells which could lead to cancer growth.

In some cases, cancers use hormones to develop or grow, indicating that cancer can be hormone sensitive or dependent. Oncologists use Hormone Therapy through medicines to reduce the hormones in the body to help stop or slow down growth of cancer cells. Hormone therapy is recommended mostly for breast, ovarian, prostate, and endometrial cancers.