Tumor Removal Surgery

Tumor Removal Surgery 1

Cancer is one of the most challenging medical conditions to deal with. It is unpredictable, destructive, and untreatable. Millions of patients get diagnosed with cancer with an incredibly high mortality rate yearly.

Researchers have been developing a curative treatment for cancer since its first discovery. However, all attempts were unsuccessful.

Nevertheless, there are three treatment modalities used to manage cancer:

  • Tumor Removal
  • Chemotherapy
  • Radiotherapy

In this article, we will concentrate on the first item of this list, but if you want to learn more about chemotherapy or radiotherapy, click on their corresponding links.

What is surgical oncology?

Surgical oncology is a medical field focusing on surgically removing cancer tissue from patients. It is a delicate procedure requiring in-depth anatomy knowledge and intense pre-surgical testing.

Depending on the tumor’s location, a different surgical specialty will get involved.

For instance, if the patient is dealing with prostate cancer, a urologist will intervene to make tumor removal surgery. In contrast, if another patient is diagnosed with uterine cancer, a gynecologist is a leading surgeon in this case.

It is the ideal treatment modality since it leaves the patient cancer-free if done under the right circumstances.

Tumor removal surgery is often combined with other treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, to attain the best possible outcome.

Do not hesitate to contact HayatMed for a free consultation to get more information about your case.

Indication for Tumor Removal in cancer patients

Tumor removal surgery is the preferred treatment option for cancer.

However, it is not always used to treat patients. Here are some typical indications for performing tumor removal surgery in cancer patients:

Diagnosis of cancer

Diagnosis of cancer

A cancer diagnosis is never 100 percent certain unless a biopsy is obtained. The biopsy is especially beneficial for cases where the oncologist is uncertain of the malignancy of the tumor.

Therefore, a surgical biopsy might be performed to get a tissue sample from the suspected area.

There are two types of surgical biopsies:

  • First, an incisional biopsy removes a small piece of the suspected area to study.
  • Excisional biopsy, which removes the entire suspected area.

Regardless of the type of biopsy, a pathologist will look at the collected sample to study it and determine the presence of any histological signs of cancer.

The pathologist will send a pathology report to your oncologist with the final histological diagnosis of the sample tissue.

Tumor Removal of cancer

Most people think of this type of surgery when talking about tumor removal. It involves the surgical removal of the tumor and a small area of healthy tissue surrounding it.

The area of healthy tissue surgically removed is known as a margin. It is discarded to ensure no cancer cells have traveled to nearby structures from the original cancer location.

Some surgical techniques can be very invasive, while others are less invasive. The type of which your surgeon chooses to perform is based on a case-to-case analysis.

Locate the cancer

This is especially beneficial when imaging techniques are unable to stage cancer accurately. Your surgeon will determine the tumor’s size, connections to adjacent structures, and whether it has spread to nearby organs.

They will then stage cancer, which helps predict the outcome of patients.

Relieve side effects

The surgical procedures that aim to relieve the side effects of cancer fall into palliative treatment.

This type of tumor removal surgery is recommended for advanced and end-stage cancer patients suffering from pain, bowel obstruction, and bleeding.

The surgeon will operate on these patients to remove their source of discomfort and improve their quality of life. Note that not all surgical procedures involve a huge incision.

Some emerging techniques use minimally invasive surgery, such as laparoscopic, laser, cryosurgery, and Mohs micrographic.

Contraindications for Tumor Removal in cancer patients

Contraindications for Tumor Removal in cancer patients

No one factor contraindicates cancer surgery. Every patient and every cancer has characteristics that allow us to decide whether it is operable.

For example, an old patient diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer has many diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, blood hypertension, and liver disease.

This patient cannot surgically remove lung cancer since it has already metastasized (spread). In addition, the patient has many risk factors leading to death during the surgery.

Some cancers, such as small cell lung cancer, are notoriously known to spread all over the body, treated with chemotherapy. In this case, trying surgery would be more damaging than beneficial.

Side Effects of the Tumor Removal

There are many side effects to getting tumor removal surgery.

These include:

  1. Pain

Pain is especially prevalent after surgery. Over time, the pain will subside until the body completely heals. Your physician may prescribe you some painkillers to reduce their severity.

  1. Fatigue

Most people experience fatigue after significant surgeries. It is due to several causes, including anesthesia, health status, stress, and nourishment.

  1. Loss of appetite

This side effect is short-lived, and patients start to recover their appetite after the impact of the surgery wears off.

  1. Infection

This is commonly seen at the site of the incision. Patients present with fever, swelling of the incision area, pain, and pus formation.

This is a medical emergency; your physician will start you on IV antibiotics to stop the infection before the tissue gets damaged.

  1. Other symptoms
  • Bleeding
  • Numbness
  • Organ dysfunction

Conclusion about tumor removal

Cancer surgery is the closest thing we have to cure cancer. However, it is a complicated procedure that requires intensive biological and imaging tests before execution.

Surgical oncology is a fantastic method to cure cancer and prevent its spread when combined with other treatment modalities.

All those campaigns you see online to screen yourself for cancer have the same goal of detecting cancer before it has spread to other organs. In other words, we want to detect cancer before it cannot be surgically removed.

Click Here to contact HayatMed Or go back to the cancer treatment department.

About the author

Zeyna Aslan

Zeyna Aslan

Zeyna Aslan brings over 13 years of expertise to the HayatMed Clinic Blog. With a passion for healthcare communication, Zeyna has crafted insightful articles that demystify complex medical topics, empowering readers to make informed decisions about their well-being.
Her wealth of experience ensures that each blog post is a reliable source of knowledge, fostering a deeper understanding of health and medical advancements.

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