10 Best Medical Oncologists in India - Updated 2024

A medical oncologist is a cancer specialist who treats cancer using chemotherapy or medication like targeted therapy or immunotherapy.

Based on the type and stage of your cancer, your medical oncologist may suggest one of the below-mentioned treatments:

• Traditional chemotherapy which uses medications to kill the cancer cells and stop them from spreading.
• Immunotherapy uses biological agents to boost the immune system so that your body is capable enough to fight the cancer cells.
• Hormone therapy uses drugs to block the production of hormones that promote the growth and spread of cancer cells.
• Targeted therapy uses medication to target only certain molecules of the cancer cells that are involved in cancer growth and spread.

A medical oncologist is cancer specialist who treats almost all kinds of cancer by using medication whereas a hematologist-oncologist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis, treatment and/or prevention of blood disorders and cancers such as iron-deficiency anemia, hemophilia, sickle-cell disease, leukemia and lymphoma. 

• Cure: It is used to cure cancer i.e. destroy the cancer cells and they don’t recur. This is not possible in all cases and that is why doctors don’t use the word “cure” as the person might have a chance to recur.
• Control: Chemotherapy is also used to shrink the tumours and stop cancer from growing or spreading.
• Palliation: Also called as palliative chemotherapy or treatment with palliative intent, chemotherapy can also be used to ease the symptoms caused by cancer.

• Nausea
• Loss of appetite
• Mouth sores
• Hair Loss
• Bowel problems
• Fertility problems
• Skin and Nail changes
• Low White blood cell count

To know more about the side effects of chemotherapy, Click Here.

Most of the chemotherapy drugs are strong and taking too little or taking stronger doses of the medication will harm you. For this reason, your medical oncologist calculates the chemotherapy doses carefully after examining your body and cancer. The overall dose depends on:

• Your body weight
• Age
• Medical history
• Body tolerance capacity

The chemotherapy is usually given in regular intervals called cycles. A cycle may be a dose of one or more drugs on one or more days, followed by several days or weeks without treatment. This gives normal cells time to recover from the drug side effects. Some drugs may be given continuously while others might be given certain days in a row followed by a period of rest.