An important option for cancer treatment.
Cancer surgery remains a leading option for removing cancer from the body – and SSM surgeons are some of the best in their fields. Our physicians perform cancer surgeries for many reasons, including diagnosing, removing, and relieving the symptoms of various types of cancer. Common reasons for surgeries include:
- Preventing cancer: If you are predisposed to certain types of cancers through genetic factors, you may choose to have tissues or organs removed before cancer can occur.
- Cancer diagnosis: Your physician may perform a biopsy to remove all or part of a tumor to determine if a growth is cancerous.
- Stage determination: Surgery can help to define the progression, or stage, of a cancer.
- Primary treatment: Surgery is often the best option for completely removing cancerous growths and surrounding tissue from the body to increase the odds of a cure.
- Debulking: This surgery process is designed to remove as much of a tumor as possible when complete eradication (due to proximity to vital organs or tissue) is not possible.
In addition to traditional applications of cancer surgery, SSM Cancer Care physicians also practice the newest forms of surgery.
They include:
- Laser surgery: The procedure uses beams of high-intensity light to shrink or destroy cancer cells.
- Mohs surgery: This method of surgery involves carefully removing cancer in layers from sensitive areas of the skin, such as near the eye.
- Laparoscopic surgery: Instead of a large incision, a surgeon makes a series of tiny cuts, inserts a laparoscope which contains a small camera and surgical tools for diagnosis, staging, and/or treatment and symptom relief.
- Image-guided therapy: During this process, physicians rely on real-time images of the internal body – provided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computerized tomography (CT) – to guide them during an operation.