Surgical Oncology
Surgical oncology is not a well-defined discipline because of the variety of surgical specialties that are based on disease site or organ site, and, therefore, this discipline differs from radiation oncology and medical oncology, which allow the application of their respective modalities to a wide variety of anatomic sites. Nevertheless, surgical resection is the single most successful modality in curing cancer. Generally, the role of surgical oncology can be defined as fulfilling the following objectives:
- Definitive surgical treatment for localized malignancies, based on a careful staging diagnostic procedure
- Knowledge of, and ability to, consult with other modalities in choosing adjuvant therapy preoperatively and postoperatively
- Reconstruction and rehabilitation of resected organs
- For an unresectable tumor, providing debulking of residual cancer to improve the effectiveness of other modes of treatment
- Surgery for palliation and for some oncologic emergencies
