A physician who diagnoses and treats cancer in the musculoskeletal system is called an orthopedic oncologist. He is also involved in identifying, treating and operating the benign and malignant and soft tissue tumors. He works in teams with other specialized physicians in treating the patient. One has to spend four years of additional study to become a certified specialist in orthopaedic oncology. Bone cancer is a complicated and uncommon disease that can occur to anyone irrespective of age and gender. Thee are limited number of orthopaedic oncologists due to the rare occurrence of this disease.
An Orthopaedic oncologist examines the patients by analyzing the symptoms such as pain in the joints, tenderness of bones and fractures. He also specializes in treating diseases like carpal tunnel syndrome, bunions, ganglions, hip replacement surgery and knee replacement surgery. Risk factors of this disease are old age, ionizing radiation, and changes in the harm ones, hereditary and environmental factors. Sometimes bone cancer may also have metastasized from the cancerous organ. Metastasis is nothing but spreading of the cancerous tissue to other parts of the body. For example, a patient suffering from stage 4-breast cancer has high risk of bone cancer.
An orthopaedic oncologist uses different methods to treat bone cancer. Some of the common methods an orthopaedic surgeon uses are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Treatment methods vary depending upon the intensity of the disease. Chemotherapy is used in all stages of cancer. Radiation therapy is used after the removal of tumor for preventing damage to other cells. Surgery is recommended when the cancer has spread intensely. The physicians conduct awareness programs in hospitals and other public places to educate people about this disease that will help to detect cancer at an early stage. An orthopaedic oncologist attends seminars and workshops to update him about the recent technologies in treating cancer.
Thanks for explaining about orthopaedic oncologist. Many people are not aware that such a specialist exists.