“Radiotherapist” for radiation oncologist.
“Chemotherapist” for medical oncologist.
“Laser therapy” or “x-ray therapy” or “cobalt” for radiation therapy.
Anybody who thinks that the radiation oncologist is the one who actually delivers the radiation treatment is completely out of the loop.
Okay, educate me. Who is the one who delivers the radiation treatment? And what does the radiation oncologist do? Is s/he the one who decides what the treatment will be?
"Diffusion/confusion" from people who don’t really understand cryptographic algorithms.
"I can play anything!" from prospective open-mic night performers (who invariably know a total of three songs by the same artist).
[Possible Hijack Alert]
Thanks for asking, and you’re in excellent company. The number of medical profesionals who have no real understanding of this field is depressing. Not to mention that the jokes about nuking/frying/ zapping get old quickly. I hope this won’t get too detailed or pedantic, but please bear with me …
The radiation oncologist is the medical doctor who decides if treating the patient with radiation is likely to be helpful, and without unacceptable side effects. So this involves knowing what the patient’s other options (e.g. chemotherapy or surgery) would be and the risk/benefit ratio to those other options, then advising the patient. The radiation oncologist is responsible for deciding on the treatment (what total dose, dose per session, way of delivering the treatment, etc.) and for prescribing the treatment. Just as when your doctor recommends antibiotic pills, s/he prescribes them but doesn’t dispense them, with radiation treatment the oncologist prescribes the treatment but doesn’t actually deliver the individual treatments.
The people who deliver the radiation treatments are radiation therapists. They are kind folk who were smart enough to avoid med school & residency but were willing to train for two years (well, in Canada, anyway) to learn the physics, radiobiology and other stuff to be good at planning & delivering treatments.
To get from the point where the patient agrees with the proposed treatment to where the treatments get delivered,requires the combined efforts of a radiation oncologist, radiation therapists (who make many of the devices required to immobilize the patient and help the patient through the simulation or planning session) and for more complicated cases a medical physicist’s input is often needed as well. The radiation oncologist is responsible for making sure the tumour gets treated while the dose to the surrounding normal tissues is kept within acceptable limits, and so has final approval of the way the radiation treatment is to be delivered.
The simulation (what I often describe to patient’s as the preparation and dry run process) is the process by which the team makes sure that they will be treating what the radiation oncologist thinks needs treating while avoiding important structures or tissues.
‘So, you speak Saudi?’
‘Ten years? You must love it there.’
(I thought I posted this before. Must have been another thread.)