Spinal tumor specialists; your medical team
It is common for one or more specialists to become involved in caring for a patient with a benign or malignant spinal tumor. Some doctors specialize in the diagnosis of disorders, while others may provide nonoperative and/or surgical care. Whatever the type of specialist, the goal of your medical team is to provide care that will remedy or reduce symptoms, improve function, increase quality of life while working to prevent tumor recurrence.
| Medical Doctor | General Area of Specialty |
| Primary Care Doctor | Everyday medical diagnosis and treatment |
| Oncologist | Cancer |
| Hematologist | Blood and bone marrow disease |
| Radiologist | Radiology: diagnosis of disease using radiation, MRI, CT, ultrasound. Administers radiation therapy |
| Neuroradiologist | Radiologist: diagnosis and treatment of nervous system (e.g. spinal cord) disorders |
| Interventional Radiologist | Radiologist: performs biopsies, other minimally invasive techniques |
| Neurologist | Diagnosis and nonsurgical treatment of nervous system disorders |
| Neurosurgeon | Diagnosis, nonoperative and surgical treatment, prevention of brain and spinal disorders |
| Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon | Diagnosis, nonsurgical and surgical treatment, prevention of spinal disorders |
| Pain Management | Diagnosis, treatment of different types of pain; some pain medicine doctors also are anesthesiologists |
| Physiatrist | Physical medicine and rehabilitation |
| Doctor of Physical Therapy | Passive and active therapies, biomechanics |
Updated on: 02/06/10
