Radiation Oncology

[JulianCrane]

I know that radiation oncology is a relatively new field. Just what do people in this field do?? What are the major centers in the country for this?

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[KyGrlDr2B]

Moving to radiation oncology forum.

 

[IndyXRT]

Originally posted by JulianCrane
I know that radiation oncology is a relatively new field. Just what do people in this field do?? What are the major centers in the country for this?

Actually, radiation oncology isn't all that new (depends upon your definition of "new," I guess). Radiation oncologists use radiation to treat patients with cancer (and with a few other, non-cancerous diagnoses). Sometimes this is done with curative intent, other times with only palliative intent. The Radiation Oncologist works closely with the medical oncologist and the surgeon, as 2-3 of these modalities are used on many cancer patients.

The concept of therapeautic radiation is certainly not new (~100 years old). For years, therapeautic radiation was considered a sub-category of radiology. Radiology and Radiation Oncology split sometime in the 1970s or so, and since then Radiation Oncology has been a separate residency. There are some very well known centers (MD Anderson, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Stanford, to name a few), but there are radiation oncology facilities available at more hospitals than you would think (my home town of 18,000 has facilities available at their hospital). Hope this answers your question.

 

[NDESTRUKT]

radiation oncology is a really good lifestyle. no emergencies, no on call, and a lot of procedures. my dad is one and he loves it.

 

[stephew]

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http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42456&perpage=20&pagenumber=1