Surgery
Surgery for cancer can be done in different ways depending on different ways of looking at it.
Resection versus ablation
If surgery is removing the cancer, then it removes part of the organ, for instance the liver, containing the tumor, with a margin of normal tissue around it. That is the ideal form of surgery. It is called resection. However, sometimes complete removal of the cancer with a margin of normal tissue around it is either not possible or too dangerous. In these cases, we may choose to “burn” the cancer while leaving it inside the liver. This is called ablation. The goal is to kill it completely and then, overtime, the body slowly digests the dead tumor with the final result, that in its place a cavity forms, which has the appearance of a cyst.
Curative versus palliative surgery
When it is possible to completely remove the tumor, the surgery has curative intent (it has the intent to cure). This is also called radical surgery. This is the best case scenario. Sometimes, it is not possible to completely remove the tumor, but surgery is done to relieve a problem that is caused by the tumor without removing the cancer. That is called palliative surgery. Examples are operations to relieve blockage of the outlet of the stomach from cancers of the stomach or the pancreas, when the tumor is left in place but is bypassed by making a new connection between the stomach and the intestine, so the patient is able to eat despite the fact that the tumor is left in place. Another example is removal of the tumor in case of bleeding, even though it is known that the tumor has already spread to other areas.