Cancer Treatment

 

Cancer treatment nowadays involves a complex series of steps, usually starting with investigations such as X-rays and scans, leading to establishing the diagnosis with a biopsy.

There are hundreds of different sorts of cancers and each one may be at a particular stage. For example, it may be localised (where the malignant tumour is confined to its original site, and has not spread), it may have spread to nearby lymph nodes, or it may have spread to other sites or organs in the body.

When deciding on treatment, your doctor will stage the cancer, a process in which doctors classify the size, site and spread of a tumour to gain knowledge as to the extent of the cancer. It is this staging that leads to the most appropriate course of treatment.

 

Treatment may involve an operation to remove the affected area.

 

It may also result in some lymph nodes or nearby tissue or organs being removed.

 

A team of experts on your side

 

Quite often, you may need to see various specialists before or after the diagnosis is finalised so that the best individualised form of treatment can be developed for your own circumstances.

There is no one universal way of treating cancer. We understand that it is imperative that each person with cancer has access to all these tools and all available medical expertise to obtain the best possible result.

Multidisciplinary clinics, in which a range of medical professionals with a range of different skills work together to help each patient, are one way in which a person with cancer can access the best and most appropriate knowledge for their particular problem. This allows us to be aware of, and utilise whenever possible, “Best Practice” guidelines and protocols.

Radiation Oncology Associates (ROA) participate in many such clinics where the patient derives benefit from joint discussions with the relevant specialist. Such clinics and sessions involve a team of medical staff from a range of disciplines, such as surgeons, radiation and medical oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, dieticians, psychologists and counsellors, and specialised nursing consultants.

ROA centres at the Mater and St Vincent's Hospitals provide our patients with the latest technology, the most up-to-date techniques, and the input of many of Sydney's leading cancer specialists.