Cancer Surgery

Cancer surgery is a common cancer treatment, either alone or in combination with other treatments. Generally, the aim of surgery for cancer is to remove all the cancer cells in the body. By removing the cancer from the body they cannot continue to divide, grow, invade and damage normal tissues and organs.

When is surgery considered for cancer victims?
Cancer surgery is generally offered when it is felt that removal of part or all of the tumor is both technically possible and safe and can impact the course of the disease, helping to control the cancer, either getting rid of it entirely or slowing its growth and impact on the body. Therefore, when tumors are more confined to one part of the body and not invasive into surrounding vital structures, an attempt at surgical removal may help in the treatment of the cancer.

If a malignant tumor cannot be removed without damaging other vital structures or when it is so widespread in the body that removal of only part of it will not significantly improve the patient's prognosis, surgery may not be recommended.

Goals of Surgery

• In some cases, when the entire tumor can be safely removed surgically, often with a rim of normal tissue around it, surgery alone can be all the treatment that a patient needs and can even be curative.
• In other cases, removal of the tumor may not be curative but may reduce symptoms.
• In some cases, removal of part or all of the tumor may not be curative but may help to make subsequent treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiation treatment, more effective by reducing the number of cancer cells in the body.
• Removal of some or all of a cancer, if not curative, may delay the progression of the disease.