Multidisciplinary Care in Oncology
摘要
Cancer is not a single disease but a spectrum of malignant disorders of various sites, histologies, and stages. Progress in scientific knowledge and technology has revolutionized the traditional concepts of diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of cancer. The traditional armamentarium of cancer has been surgery, radiotherapy, and systemic chemotherapy. Historically, cancer was treated with a single modality, a classic example being Halsted mastectomy. It was soon realized that single modality treatment is unlikely to give efficient results in this disease. In recent years, the complexity of cancer management has necessitated the needs for optimal coordination between healthcare specialists and other skilled staff of an oncology team or cancer center, such that each diagnosed cancer patient would receive suitable approaches for cancer therapy and supportive care. This chapter gives an overview of present-day multidisciplinary care in oncology practice [1].