An obgyn oncologist is one who diagnoses and treats cancerous diseases related to female reproductive system. Female reproductive system includes the ovaries, uterus, vulva and cervix. Cancerous tissues can appear in any part of these organs. Gynecologic cancer is the most common form of cancer that affects women. The most common type of cancer that occurs in the female reproductive system is ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, vaginal cancer and endometrial cancer. An obgyn oncologist when examining patient, checks for symptoms like uncommon bleeding or discharge from the vagina, presence of a painful lump in the pelvic region which can be felt on palpation, pain in the pelvis, a sore in the vagina that takes long time to heal, chronic change in bowel habits and indigestion or bloating sensation in the abdomen.
A physician suspects the presence of cancer if the above symptoms prevail. He advises the patient for a Pap smear test where the inner cells of the uterus is scraped and then tested for the presence of cancerous tissues. If the Pap smear test shows positive results for cancer then the physician does the staging diagnosis, which is identifying the stage of cancer the patient is suffering from. There are four stages of cancer stage 1 to stage 4. Stage 1 is the beginning state of cancer that says that the cancerous cells are localized in the particular organ only.
Stage 2 is where the lump becomes larger and the cancerous cells spread within the lump. Stage 3 is where the cancerous cells spread to the lymph nodes. Stage 4 is the dangerous stage where the cancer has spread to other organs in the body. Depending upon these stages, the obgyn decides the treatment plan. After the treatment the physician advises some preventive measures to the patient in order to prevent cancerous tissues in future.
