Oncology
Oncology is the medical division devoted to diagnosis, treatment, and study of cancer. A physician working in the area oncology is called an oncologist. Some oncologists focus exclusively on cancer types or therapy treatments. Depending on the type of cancer, stage, and place, multiple oncology specialists may become involved in a patient's treatment. Oncology has three primary medical, surgical, and radiation specialties and various sub-specialties.
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Extra-abdominal desmoid tumors
Spinal metastases
Renal tumors
What is Oncology?
Oncology is the medical division devoted to diagnosis, treatment, and study of cancer. A physician working in the area oncology is called an oncologist.
Some oncologists focus only on cancer types or therapy treatments. Depending on the type of cancer, stage, and place, many oncology specialists become involved in a patient's treatment. Oncology has three primary medical, surgical, and radiation specialties and various sub-specialties. At Evolve Medical, we focus on patient-centered care.
We use the most up-to-date procedures. Including the latest technology available. Our processes set Evolve Medical apart as a leader in minimally invasive interventional care.
See Our Interventional Care & Treatments
Extra-abdominal desmoid tumors
Extra-abdominal desmoid tumors are very rare tumors. Although technically benign (or noncancerous) because they do not metastasize (spread) to other parts of the body, demoids can grow aggressively in the area the appear. Rarely fatal, desmoid tumors often grow around other surrounding muscle, tendons, joints, bones, nerves, vessels and arteries which can make them result in pain and notable disability.
Desmoids often grow slowly, but can grow more quickly, particularly when exposed to heat (radiation) or incomplete surgical removal.
Desmoids can appear in people of any age, though they occur most often in older children and young adults up to 40 years old. They appear more frequently in males than females.
Most often, patients seek treatment after finding a mildly painful, firm lump or mass under the skin. As the lump grows, it may cause pain and restricted movement in nearby joints or cause unusual nerve responses such as tingling or occasional loss of sensation in fingers or toes.
Treatments
Standard treatment of desmoids has typically been surgery or chemotherapy.
Surgery attempts to remove the growth; however, desmoids frequently grow back even if the growth is removed completely, and if the tumor is not entirely removed, the growth can often be more aggressive than before.
Chemotherapy has shown to slow or stop the progression of desmoid tumor growth. It does not, however, typically reduce or eliminate the growth.
New use of cryoablation (freezing the tumor) for desmoids has had favorable outcomes. Click HERE to learn more about treatment with cryoablation.
Spinal metastases
Spinal metastases are only slightly more common in men than in women, and tends to occur more frequently in adults between the ages of 40-65 years.
Most often, spinal metastases appear in the thoracic spine (about 70%).
Spinal metastases causes pain, fracture, spinal instability, and can causes paralysis and/or bowel or bladder dysfunction, and cord compression.
Renal tumors
Renal cell carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer in adults. Because symptoms of renal cell carcinoma mimic many other illnesses, it is often misdiagnosed or diagnosed once metastasis has occurred.
Angiomyolipoma
Although angiomyolipoma is a benign growth in the kidney, that growth can sometimes compromise kidney function. In rare cases, both kidneys can have angiomyolipomas. Often, diagnosis occurs when the enlarged vessel feeding the tumor ruptures. This causes extreme pain, nausea and vomiting.
Treatments
Cryoablation
Since the 1960s, cryotherapy has been used to destroy skin tumors, precancerous skin moles, nodules, skin tags or unsightly freckles. It also has been used to destroy retinoblastomas, a childhood cancer of the retina. With the improvement of imaging techniques and the development of devices to better control extreme temperatures, Interventional Radiologists have treated the various cancers with great success:
Renal cancers
Liver cancers
Desmoid tumors
Bone cancers
Prostate cancers
and more
Cryoablation rarely requires hospital observation or overnight hospital stay.
Renal cell carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma is the most common form of kidney cancer in adults. Because symptoms of renal cell carcinoma mimic many other illnesses, it is often misdiagnosed or diagnosed once metastasis has occurred.
Radiofrequency ablation
Although angiomyolipoma is a benign growth in the kidney, that growth can sometimes compromise kidney function. In rare cases, both kidneys can have angiomyolipomas. Often, diagnosis occurs when the enlarged vessel feeding the tumor ruptures. This causes extreme pain, nausea and vomiting.
