Radiation Oncology

[yalla22]

For those of you that know, what is the job of a radiation oncologist like? Good lifestyle? Challenges specific to their field? Is it overall a desirable job?

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[sweet2th]

from my shadowing experiences, it seemed to me that those docs should be saavy in technology and physics. i would also assume that, like radiology, the working hours are nice, the pay is good and it takes some really high board scores! i hope that is my fate

 

[yalla22]

I guess this is naive, but how does their job differ specifically from a general oncologists? what do they do differently? I'm assuming its also an emotionally difficult job...?

 

[sirus_virus]

For those of you that know, what is the job of a radiation oncologist like? Good lifestyle? Challenges specific to their field? Is it overall a desirable job?

Nice job and very desirable, infact so desirable that you have to be ready for some crazy competition to get into that field.

 

[TheCybermen]

I guess this is naive, but how does their job differ specifically from a general oncologists? what do they do differently? I'm assuming its also an emotionally difficult job...?

Oncology is a tripartite field. Medical oncology, radiation oncology, and surgical oncology each take different approaches toward treating (and, in some cases, curing) the cancer patient. I can't speak for hematology as much as I can for solid tumor oncology, but certainly in the latter there is a great deal of multimodality therapeutics at play. When a patient comes in with a locally advanced tumor, for example, the surgeon will lop out the primary, the radiation oncologist will irradiate the site and surrounding tissues, and the medical oncologist will select a cocktail that the patient is able to sustain given his/her medical history for adjuvant treatment. Systemic treatment (i.e. chemotherapy by way of IV or, these days more so than before, oral chemotherapy) is the only thing that can wage a battle against micrometastasis, especially distant micrometastasis, against which both surgery and radiation can do very little.

 

[sweet2th]

I guess this is naive, but how does their job differ specifically from a general oncologists? what do they do differently? I'm assuming its also an emotionally difficult job...?

I wouldn't think it is any more emotionally difficult than other specialty fields. I think patients have already heard the news of their cancer and are coming to you, for YOU to do something about it. I would think these docs can offer more optimism for patients. Also, I think radiation oncologist 1) work soley in treating patient via radiation, and not chemo and nutrition (like straight up oncologist) and 2) have to manage not only the affect the radiation has the the cancer, but how it affects the other organs.

 

[TheCybermen]

Medical oncology, radiation oncology, and surgical oncology each take different approaches toward treating (and, in some cases, curing) the cancer patient.

just to cover all my bases: obviously one approach is not "better" (arguably) than another. each approach is "more appropriate" is certain settings than others. for example, someone with a 1.2 cm lesion in the lung with no regional involvement whatsoever on a chest radiograph (CT) would be sent to a surgical oncologist for removal of the lesion. the pathologist would check out the surgical margins and tissues and, should there be no regional involvement on path review, there's no reason to subject the patient to harsh treatments like chemo or radiation in the adjuvant (pre/post-op) setting. this is a point of contention these days and there is a massive dialogue brewing regarding whether or not all patients who present with a certain stage SHOULD get surg/rad/chemo, but standard of care tends to differ across institutions and physicians/disease management teams.