Dr. Vinod Raina

Consultant oncologist, treating cancer with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and radiotherapy. Modern cancer care is planned by a team rather than one clinician, and the recommendation depends on the tumour type, its stage and its molecular profile — so pathology reports and recent imaging matter more here than at almost any other consultation.

What an oncologist treats

Cancer, with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy and radiotherapy — alone or alongside surgery. Which of those applies depends on the tumour type, its stage, and increasingly on its molecular profile, which is why two people with the same diagnosis can be offered quite different treatment.

When you would be referred

After a biopsy has confirmed a diagnosis, or when imaging strongly suggests one and tissue is being obtained. Second opinions are common and entirely reasonable here: treatment decisions are consequential, and reviewing them before starting is far easier than changing course later.

At the first consultation

Modern cancer care is planned by a team — oncologist, surgeon, radiologist and pathologist — rather than by one clinician, so the first appointment often precedes a multidisciplinary discussion. Expect the stage to be explained, the intent of treatment stated plainly as either curative or control, and the sequence set out. If molecular testing is pending, some decisions will honestly be "not yet".

What to bring, and what to ask

The pathology report and, where possible, the biopsy slides or blocks; recent CT, MRI or PET imaging; and previous treatment records. Worth asking: what is the intent of this treatment, what are the side effects likely to be and how long do they last, what does the schedule look like week by week, and what happens if it does not work.