Role of Surgery in Cancer Management

Abstract

The first reported use of surgery to treat cancer was in ancient Egypt around 1600 BC. Since then, surgery has become a potent tool in the management of cancer. Landmark events in the surgical management of cancers include the development of surgical methods for primary surgery of the larynx, oesophagus and stomach by Albert Theodor Billroth, breast by William Stewart Halsted, thyroid by Emil Theodor Kocher and prostate by Charles Huggins. The aims of a surgeon differ when he is operating for a benign lesion than when he is operating on a cancer. In a benign lesion, the surgeon tries to remove the least amount of tissue required to achieve surgical aims which would leave the patient with function as near as normal as possible. On the other hand, in cancers, the surgeon aims to remove the maximal amount of involved tissue possible to achieve either clear margins or preserve tissue function as near as normal as possible. In the present day of multidisciplinary management of cancer patients, surgery plays an important role in all stages of cancer management, be it screening or even end-stage palliative care.