Oncology

What does oncology mean?

The definition of oncology; oncology is the branch of medicine that deals with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Cancer is a cluster of cells (usually derived from a single cell) that proliferate uncontrollably and can develop from any tissue or organ within the body, including blood forming tissue (blood cancers), and solid tissue (solid cancers). Solid cancers, also known as tumours, can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Malignant tumours can spread or metastasise to other parts of the body, with metastases often complicating cancer management and treatment.

What are the most common cancers in women?

The most common cancers in females globally are breast cancer (24.2%), colorectum cancer (9.5%), and lung cancer (8.4%)¹. These are also the three most common causes of cancer-related deaths in women, with breast cancer being the most common¹. The most common type of breast cancer is invasive ductal carcinoma, whilst the molecular subtypes of breast cancer that are more relevant for treatment-decision making include luminal A, luminal B, triple negative, HER2-enriched, and normal-like breast cancer². Whilst breast cancer is much more common in women, just under 1% of all breast cancer cases are male breast cancers³. In gynaecological oncology, female-only cancers include ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, womb cancer, vulval cancer, and vaginal cancer.

What are the most common cancers in men?

The most common cancers in men globally include lung cancer (14.5%), prostate cancer (13.5%) and colorectum cancers (10.9%)¹. Whilst lung cancer is also the most common cause of cancer-related deaths in men, prostate cancer and colorectum cancer follow in 6^th and 5^th position, respectively, following liver cancer and stomach cancer¹. Male-only cancers include prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and penile cancer.

How is cancer treated?

Cancer treatments used within clinical oncology vary according to type and subtype of cancer, cancer stage and level of metastases, as well as the molecular features of the cancer. Cancer treatment modalities include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, radiopharmaceuticals, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy and stem cell transplant therapy. Tumour biomarker analysis using molecular techniques that include cancer genetic testing are increasingly important for the application of current and emerging targeted cancer therapies, an approach known as individualised cancer treatment, or precision medicine⁴.

References

1. Bray F, Ferlay J, Soerjomataram I, Siegel RL, Torre LA, Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J Clin. 2018;68(6):394–424.
2. Breastcancer.org. Molecular subtypes of breast cancer. https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/molecular-subtypes. Accessed 14 March 2021.
3. Breastcancer.org. Male breast cancer. https://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/types/male_bc#:~:text=Breast%20cancer%20in%20men%20is,is%20about%201%20in%20833. Accessed 14 March 2021.
4. Le Tourneau C, Borcoman E, Kamal M. Molecular profiling in precision medicine oncology. Nat Med. 2019;25(5):711–712.