Surgical treatment of cancer

Surgery is an operation that repairs or removes a part of the body.  It can be used to treat a disease or diagnose a condition.  In cancer, there are many reasons an operation or procedure will be done.

Cancer Surgeries

Diagnostic Surgery or Biopsy

Surgery to diagnose cancer removes a piece of the tumor for examination by a doctor who specializes in identifying disease by viewing tissue under a microscope (pathologist).  Diagnostic surgery for cancer can be as simple as inserting a needle into a tumor and removing a tissue sample.  It can also be an operation to remove part or all of a tumor.  Diagnostic surgery will not necessarily cure cancers; it only is to make a diagnosis.

Types of diagnostic surgeries:

• Excisional biopsy—if a tumor is small, the doctor will remove the entire tumor for microscopic examination.
• Incisional biopsy—when the tumor is large, a small piece of the tumor is removed for analysis under the microscope.
• Fine needle aspiration or biopsy—uses a very fine needle to withdraw a small tissue sample or aspirate suspicious fluid.
• Needle core biopsy—uses a large need to withdraw samples of tissue.  If the tumor can be felt, local anesthesia is given and the needle passed into the tumor.
• Endoscopy—a flexible tube with a camera or viewing lens is passed through a body opening to view suspicious areas in the lung, stomach, esophagus, intestines, bladder, throat and voice box.  It is possible to biopsy with an endoscope.
• Laparoscopy, thoracoscopy, or mediastinoscopy—a tube is passed in to the abdomen or chest through a very small incision.  The tube has a viewing device or camera, like the endoscope, so suspicious areas can be viewed and biopsied if necessary.

Curative Surgery

To cure a cancer with an operation as the only treatment, the tumor has to be confined in the organ.  The organ has to be one that can safely be removed.  In some people, the doctor will remove lymph nodes connected to or close to the organ.  The lymph glands are removed because many cancers will spread to the lymph glands.  Removing the lymph glands along with the organ with the tumor, improves the chance of cure.

Some special curative surgeries:

• Laser surgery uses high intensity light to treat cancer and other illnesses.  Lasers can be used to shrink or destroy tumors.  Lasers are most often used to treat cancers on the surface of the body or the lining of internal organs.
• Cryosurgery is the use of extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen to destroy abnormal tissue.  Cryosurgery is often used to treat tumors on the skin, or those that are external.  Internal tumors can also be treated with cryosurgery through a hollow tube called a cryoprobe.  It is placed in direct contact with the tumor.
• Moh’s procedure is used to treat skin cancers.  In this procedure the doctor removes the cancer by shaving it off, one layer at a time.  A specially trained skin doctor will look at the shaved tissue under the microscope.  The shaving is stopped when all the cells of the shaved tissue look normal.
• Laporoscopic surgery involves a small incision.  A small tube is passed through the incision into the body.  In curative cancer surgery with a laparoscope there may be several incisions to remove the tumor and examine the area of the body near the tumor.
• Electrosurgery uses high frequency electrical current to destroy cancer cells in cancer of the skin and mouth.

Debulking surgery

When the doctor finds the tumor can not be removed without damage to the body, they will remove as much as the cancer as they can.  Radiation and/or chemotherapy will be given after the person has healed, to kill the remaining tumor cells.

Prophylactic Surgery

Surgery to remove an organ that has a high chance of developing cancer is called prophylactic or preventive surgery. 

Palliative Surgery

Palliative surgery does not treat the cancer but relieves symptoms, such as pain or blockage.

Reconstructive Surgery

This type of surgery helps return the function and appearance of the area of the body where the tumor was located.

Consult the UI Health Care Cancer Information Service for more information about this topic.

Last Reviewed 2005

Disclaimer: This content is reviewed periodically and is subject to change as new health information becomes available. The information provided is intended to be informative and educational and is not a replacement for professional medical evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional.