OUR DEPARTMENTS

Surgical Oncology is a field of medicine that uses surgery to treat cancer. Its main goal is to find harmful tumors in your body and remove them. Doctors who practice surgical oncology can also see if you have cancer or find out if the disease has spread to other parts of your body.

What Do Surgical Oncologists Do?

Oncologists are doctors who study, prevent, and treat cancer. They work with your primary care doctor to come up with a treatment plan for you. Surgical oncologists use surgery to improve your condition. Their main job is to remove tumors and nearby tissue that has cancer cells in it. They also do procedures called biopsies that tell if you have cancer and how severe it is.

How to Treat Cancer?

Surgical oncologists remove tumors to help rid your body of cancer cells. There are a few different types of surgeries:

• Curative procedure happens when you have a tumor in just one place and a surgical oncologist can remove all of it. You might need or radiation therapy before or after.
• Debulking Oncologists use this surgery when it’s too dangerous to remove the whole tumor. They remove as much of it as they can and treat the rest with chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
• Supportive Your doctor might schedule this type of procedure to help other cancer treatments work well.
• To ease symptoms Even if doctors can’t get rid of your cancer with an operation, they might suggest it as a way to help you feel better. This is called palliative surgery. It can help relieve symptoms of advanced cancer. For example, if a tumor is pressing on a nerve or bone and causing pain, a surgical oncologist can do palliative surgery to bring relief.
• Changing the look of your body after surgery Once you’ve had surgery to remove tumors, your body might look and feel different. Surgical oncologists can do reconstructive surgery to restore the look and function of areas affected by cancer.

What Types of Cancer Do Surgical Oncologists Treat?

Surgery isn’t right for every kind of cancer, but it is an effective treatment choice for many types. Your doctor might recommend surgical oncology if you have cancer cells in your:

• Breast
• Esophagus
• Throat
• Thyroid
• Skin
• Lung
• Gallbladder
• Kidney
• Liver
• Pancreas
• Spine
• Uterus
• Bones
• Colon