The Department of Medical Oncology at our hospital offers different cancer treatments. It typically involves a multidisciplinary approach, involving oncologists, nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive care to cancer patients. Our hospital offers world-class cancer care services using the latest technology and expertise of its medical oncologists.

What is Medical Oncology?

Medical oncology is a type of cancer care that involves treatment using chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and targeted therapy. It effectively works in the treatment of cancer, when combined with other cancer care treatments such as radiation oncology and surgical oncology.

Medical-Oncology

Chemotherapy Medication

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to destroy cancer cells. This type of cancer treatment works by keeping cancer cells from growing, dividing, and making more cells.

What do chemotherapy drugs treat?

Chemotherapy drugs are primarily used to treat cancer. Cancer specialists called medical oncologists often prescribe chemotherapy drugs, in addition to other cancer treatments — like surgery, radiation therapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapy — to fight cancer.

Chemotherapy drugs may be used to treat conditions other than cancer, including:

  • Autoimmune diseases : With an autoimmune disease, cells in your immune system attack healthy tissue in your body. By preventing cells from multiplying, chemotherapy can slow the immune cells harming your body.
  • Blood disorders : Blood disorders include conditions that involve your bone marrow making abnormal blood cells. With certain blood disorders, you may need a stem cell transplant to replace abnormal blood cells with healthy ones. Chemotherapy is often given before a transplant to destroy abnormal cells and make room for healthy cells.

Bone Marrow Transplant

A bone marrow transplant is a procedure that infuses healthy blood-forming stem cells into your body to replace bone marrow that's not producing enough healthy blood cells. A bone marrow transplant is also called a stem cell transplant.

Why it's done

A bone marrow transplant may be used to:
  • Safely allow treatment with high doses of chemotherapy or radiation by replacing or rescuing the bone marrow damaged by the treatment
  • Replace bone marrow that's not working properly with new stem cells
  • Provide new stem cells, which can help kill cancer cells directly
  • Bone marrow transplants can benefit people with a variety of both cancerous and noncancerous diseases, including:
    • Acute leukemia
    • Adrenoleukodystrophy
    • Aplastic anemia
    • Bone marrow failure syndromes
    • Chronic leukemia
    • Hemoglobinopathies
    • Hodgkin's lymphoma
    • Immune deficiencies

Breast Cancer

It is one of the most common cancers that occur in women. Breast cancer may develop in different tissues of the breast. The abnormal cells divide more rapidly than the normal breast cells, leading to tumor formation.

Signs and Symptoms of Breast Cancer may include:

  • A breast lump or thickening that feels different from the surrounding tissue
  • Change in the size, shape or appearance of a breast
  • Changes to the skin over the breast, such as dimpling
  • A newly inverted nipple
  • Peeling, scaling, crusting or flaking of the pigmented area of skin surrounding the nipple (areola) or breast skin
  • Redness or pitting of the skin over your breast, like the skin of an orange

Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is a type of cancer that affects the large intestine, which includes the rectum and colon. The most common symptoms include blood in the stool, cramping and abdominal pain, fatigue, unexplained weight loss.

Symptoms of Colorectal Cancer

A change in bowel habits that lasts more than a few days,such as:
  • Diarrhea
  • Constipation
  • Feeling that the bowel does not empty completely
  • Your stool is narrower or has a different shape than usual
  • Blood (either bright red or very dark) in the stool
  • Frequent gas pains, bloating, fullness, or cramps
  • Weight loss for no known reason
  • Fatigue

Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid cancer is a cancer that starts in the tissues of the thyroid. Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck. It makes hormones that control the way the body uses energy. These hormones affect nearly every organ in your body and control many of your body's most important functions. For example, they affect your breathing, heart rate, weight, digestion, and moods.

Symptoms of Thyroid Cancer

  • A lump (nodule) in the neck
  • Trouble breathing
  • Trouble swallowing
  • Pain when swallowing
  • Hoarseness or other changes to your voice that do not get better

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is a type of cancer that starts when abnormal cells grow in an uncontrolled way in the lungs. It is a serious health issue that can cause severe harm and death. It effets the lungs. It has several potential causes, including asbestos exposure, smoking, genetics or radiation.

Symptoms of Lung Cancer

  • Lung cancer can cause several symptoms that may indicate a problem in the lungs.
  • The most common symptoms include:
  • Cough that does not go away
  • Chest pain
  • Shortness of breath
  • Coughing up blood (haemoptysis)
  • Fatigue
  • Weight loss with no known cause
  • Lung infections that keep coming back.

Oral Cancer

Oral cancer includes cancers of the mouth and the back of the throat. Oral cancers develop on the tongue, on the tissue lining the mouth and gums, under the tongue, at the base of the tongue, and the area of the throat at the back of the mouth.In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow.

Symptoms of Oral Cancer

  • If you have any of these symptoms for more than two weeks, see a dentist or a doctor.
  • A sore, irritation, lump or thick patch in your mouth, lip, or throat.
  • A white or red patch in your mouth.
  • Persistent sore throat, a feeling that something is caught in your throat, or hoarseness or loss of your voice.
  • A lump in the neck.
  • Difficulty chewing, swallowing, or speaking
  • Difficulty moving your jaw or tongue.
  • Swelling of your jaw that causes dentures to fit poorly or become uncomfortable.
  • Pain or bleeding in the mouth.
  • Numbness in your tongue or other areas of your mouth.
  • Ear pain.

Head and neck cancer

Cancers that are known collectively as head and neck cancers usually begin in the squamous cells that line the mucosal surfaces of the head and neck (for example, those inside the mouth, throat, and voice box). These cancers are referred to as squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. Head and neck cancers can also begin in the salivary glands, sinuses, or muscles or nerves in the head and neck, but these types of cancer are much less common than squamous cell carcinomas .

Symptoms of Head and neck Cancer

  • A persistent sore throat.
  • Frequent headaches.
  • Hoarseness or voice changes.
  • Pain when you chew or swallow.
  • Pain in your upper teeth.
  • Facial numbness or pain.
  • Neck pain that won’t go away.
  • Trouble breathing or speaking.
  • A lump in your throat, mouth or neck.

Pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is when abnormal cells in the pancreas start to divide and grow in an uncontrolled way and forms a growth (tumour). The pancreas is a large gland that produces digestive juices and hormones.

Symptoms of Pancreatic Cancer

  • Abdominal or back pain
  • Jaundice, which is present in around 70% of peopleTrusted Source with this type of cancer
  • Low appetite and weight loss
  • Swelling of the gallbladder or liver
  • Blood clots, deep vein thrombosis, or pulmonary embolism
  • Diabetes
  • Pale gray or fatty stool
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Fever and chills, in some cases
  • Fatigue
  • Diarrhea or constipation
  • Indigestion
  • A rash due to jaundice

BLADDER CANCER

Bladder cancer is a common type of cancer that begins in the cells of the bladder. The bladder is a hollow muscular organ in your lower abdomen that stores urine.

Bladder cancer most often begins in the cells (urothelial cells) that line the inside of your bladder. Urothelial cells are also found in your kidneys and the tubes (ureters) that connect the kidneys to the bladder. Urothelial cancer can happen in the kidneys and ureters, too, but it's much more common in the bladder.

Symptoms Bladder cancer signs and symptoms may include:
  • Blood in urine (hematuria), which may cause urine to appear bright red or cola colored, though sometimes the urine appears normal and blood is detected on a lab test
  • Frequent urination
  • Painful urination
  • Painful urination

What is Arthroscopic Bankart Repair?

The Arthroscopic Bankart Repair is an effective procedure to treat patients that have anterior shoulder instability. This is performed through 3 small holes (called portals). The Bankart Repair involves reattaching the detached labral-capsular complex to the glenoid using suture anchors. It is also possible to do a capsular shift (tightening of the lax capsule) at the same time. The advantage of the arthroscopic technique is its minimally invasive nature, which minimizes morbidity of surgery and hospital stay.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy involves using drugs for the treatment of cancer. These drugs destroy cancer cells by entirely stopping or slowing down their growth. Chemotherapy is generally used to treat recurrent cancers ( cancer cells reemerging after the treatment) or metastatic cancers (cancer cells that spread to other parts of the body). Chemotherapy drugs are administered orally, intravenously, injected directly into the fluid surrounding the brain or the abdominal cavity.

  • Neoadjuvant chemotherapy that is delivered 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.
  • Adjuvant chemotherapy that is delivered after the surgical or radiation procedures. It is recommended to 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 is recommended to manage the symptoms of cancer.

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.

  • 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 that are similar to the antibodies produced by the immune system. They target the proteins in cancer cells and destroy them.

Immunotherapy

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

  • Drug Therapy Drugs 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 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 into the patients in order to boost the immune system to produce antibodies to kill the antigens and other materials that cause the growth of the cancer cells.