Advances in Oncology

Introduction to Oncology

Cancer is a broad field of medicine concerned with diagnosing, managing, and preventing cancer. Cancer is a disease that tends to involve the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells within the body. Cancer care involves different branches of specialization such as Medical oncology, surgical oncology, and radiation oncology. When it comes to this extensive topic we will cover the background of oncology and further study the different kinds of cancer, factors leading to cancer, measures that could be taken to prevent cancer, how cancer is detected, and lastly, ways cancer can be treated.

History of Oncology

The history of oncology can be traced back to as early as antiquity when writings on tumors and attempts at their treatment were reported. The word oncology was used 34 years before by a German surgeon named Bernhard von Langenbeck in 1839. The past years have exclusively focused on finding more effective ways to treat the terrifying disease known as cancer.

Early Treatment

The old therapies for cancer included bloodletting, cautery, and excision operations. These practices were a result of the theories that existed at that time which identified cancer with the disturbances of the bodily fluids or the humors.

Discovery of Radiation Therapy Giles 2000, explains that radiation therapy was discovered accidentally when a physicist, H. Quimby, was working on an experiment when he realized that his skin tag was shrinking.

Radiation therapy demonstrated a trend in cancer treatment when it underwent development. It is the case that in the late 19th and early 20th century, physicians saw that X-rays helped shrink tumors. This led to the use of radiation therapy for different types of cancer including skin and breast cancer.

Development of Chemotherapy cancer chemotherapy starting in the 1940s became fully developed two decades later.

Chemotherapy developed during the middle twentieth Century with the identification of chemical anti-cancer agents called cytotoxic agents. The first chemotherapy drug called Nitrogen mustard was used on patients suffering from lymphoma, during World War II. Since then many chemotherapy drugs have been discovered, and the use of chemotherapy has really brought drastic change in cancer treatment.

The therapies moving forward in oncology have created targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and precision medicine. These new approaches have made changes in patient conditions and brought hope to patients with advanced or aggressive cancers.

Types of Cancer

Cancer can be defined as a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth that is capable of occurring in any part of the body. There are over 100 different types of cancer, which can be broadly classified into two main categories: cancers of solid tissue origin and haematologic neoplasm.

A. Solid Tumors

Cancer that forms a hard mass evolves from the cells of an individual organ or the tissue of an organ like the lungs, the breasts, the colon, and the skin respectively. Some common types of solid tumors include:

• Carcinoma

• Sarcoma

• Lymphoma

B. Hematological Malignancies

Lymphomas primarily affect the blood, bone marrow, and immune system. Among these cancers are leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma. Leukemia is a type of cancer that begins in the organs that produce blood cells, namely the bone marrow and some lymphatic systems.

Risk Factors for Cancer

Some characteristics put a person in a position of vulnerability and expose him to factors that lead to the development of cancer. Some of these risk factors include:

Genetic Factors

Some inherited germline mutations are linked to an individual’s predisposition to cancer. For instance, the presence of BRCA1/2 gene mutations increases susceptibility to developing breast or ovarian cancer.

Lifestyle Factors

The main causes of cancer cases are also associated with one’s lifestyle. These behaviors, therefore, smoking, excessive alcohol use, poor nutrition, and physical inactivity increase one’s vulnerability to many types of cancer.

Environmental Factors

There are well-known risk factors including radiation, asbestos exposure, certain chemicals, and cancer-causing agents.

Prevention and Early Detection

While cancers in particular are deadly diseases the focus should be on prevention and early diagnosis so that their effects can be minimized. Some strategies to prevent cancer include:

Lifestyle Changes

One can eliminate the risk of contracting cancer by changing his or her lifestyle, which may involve quitting smoking, eating healthily, and exercising.

Vaccines

The two cancer types for which prevention is possible include cervical cancer and liver cancer employing vaccines.

Screening

Screening tests for some types of cancer can find the disease at an early stage, while it is still curable. The applications are similar to the already mentioned cancer tests such as mammographies for breast cancer, colonoscopy for colon cancer and testicular exam for prostate cancer.

Diagnosis of Cancer

Cancer like any other disease is diagnosed through physical examinations, interviews, and test and imaging studies.

Biopsy

A biopsy removes a small piece of tissue for examination under the microscope from an area where the doctor suspects abnormality. This is possible through a biopsy which is considered to be the most accurate method of identifying cancer.

Imaging Studies

Imaging studies, including X-ray, computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography( PET), can define the location, size, and extent of tumors.

Blood Tests

Blood work can assist in showing the increase in the levels of some proteins or markers that would be indicative of cancer. For instance, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is a blood test marker that messes up with the risk of having prostate cancer.

Treatment Options

Cancer treatment may differ from one cancer type and the stage of the disease, the patient’s general health status, or even patient preference. Some common cancer treatments include:

Surgery

Resection of the tumor and microscopically involved tissues is the definitive management in many other forms of cancer. As a rule, operative management may be supplemented by one or other type of adjuvant therapy, involving irradiation or administration of cytotoxic agents.

Radiation Therapy

Radiotherapy employs ionizing radiation beams to destroy cancer cells of halt their growth. It is applied in many cancers that have spread or are incapable of being gotten rid of through surgery.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that employs the use of chemicals, or drugs with the end result of preventing the growth of tumor cells or destroying them entirely. This treatment can be intraoral or IV and it can be a single treatment or together with other treatments.

Targeted Therapy

Targeted therapies are treatment compounds that work under selective cancer cells without affecting other ordinary cells. These treatments are commonly applied together with other cancer treatments and are effective in many cancers with defined genetic changes.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy refers to the treatment of cancer by enhancing and using the body’s immune system in the process. Immunotherapies refer to the treatments that activate the immune system to fight cancer, these include immune checkpoint inhibitors, cancer vaccines, and adoptive cell transfer.

Precision Medicine

Precision medicine is another strategy of treatment that respects variations in genes, proteins, and other elements in the human body to develop unique therapies. This approach has made it possible to produce therapies and other treatments for the various conditions that affect different people with variably presented symptoms.

Palliative Care

Palliative care aims at understanding and addressing the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual distress that countering or accompanying a critical illness entails. It is not that kind of care that will eradicate cancer, but it will help improve the quality of the patient’s life as well as help the family.

Oncology opportunities and threats of further research

Tremendous strides have been made in the management of cancer, but this is still an area of active research and much can and should be done in the treatment of cancer patients.

Drug Resistance

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy will often act as a remedy towards cancerous cells but often the cells becomes resistant to the treatments. Scientists are trying to find better ways of dealing with drug resistance in a bid to enhance treatment chances.

Personalized Medicine

With advancing knowledge of the genomics and proteins associated with cancer, there is a growing use of a strategy known as personalized medicine. It wants personalized treatment of cancer that has the possibility of better treatment with lesser toxic effects depending on the biology of the tumor.

Early Detection

Enhanced strategies that make it possible to diagnose cancer at an initial phase are important in mitigating the effects of the cancer disease. Scientists are continuing with further biomarkers, demonstrating techniques and screening ways and methods to detect cancer at the early stages.

Global Cancer Burden

Globally, the burden of cancer is also predicted to increase in the future as a result of the growth of the population, population aging as well as changes in lifestyles. The cancer burden will quickly become unbearable as it has been seen that most of the low-medium income countries lack the ideal health systems that will ensure that patients discover they have cancer early enough or in some cases get appropriate treatment.