Surgery is the oldest form of cancer treatment. It may be performed to cure the disease, to treat complications of the disease or to support other types of treatment. Most cancer patients will undergo some type of surgery during their illness.

There are four main goals for cancer surgeries:

• Curative. The goal of curative surgery is to totally remove all of the cancer in the body by removing a tumor that appears to be confined to one area. Curative surgery may be used alone or in combination with chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Two terms commonly used to describe a cancer’s potential to be cured with surgery are:
  
• • Resectable. Cancer that can be completely removed with surgery. This type of cancer is primarily in an early stage.
    
    
  • Unresectable. Cancer that cannot be completely removed with surgery. This type of cancer may have spread too far from the original tumor, or may be positioned so that it cannot be entirely removed with surgery.
    
    
• Debulking. When a tumor cannot be completely removed (unresectable), debulking surgery may be used in some cancers to remove as much of the tumor as possible without causing damage to surrounding organs. Chemotherapy or radiation therapy may be ordered after the surgery to destroy the remaining areas of the tumor.
  
  
• Palliative. The goal of palliative surgery is not to treat the disease. Instead, it is used to treat the complications of advanced cancer. In a patient with pancreatic cancer, for example, palliative surgery may be used to prevent or treat certain complications such as blockage of the bile ducts or the intestines.
  
  

  

• Supportive. The goal of supportive surgery is to help with other types of treatment. For example, surgery may be used to place a catheter port into a vein. Following the surgery, the catheter can be used to deliver chemotherapy treatments or draw blood for testing.

In addition, some cancer patients may receive prophylactic surgery to prevent cancer. Prophylactic surgery may be performed on women with cancer in one breast, who have a prophylactic mastectomy to avoid the potential for cancer to develop in the other breast. Some women with certain genetic mutations are at greater risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. they may choose to have a prophylactic mastectomy or oophorectomy (ovary removal).