Surgical oncology is the use of surgery to treat cancer. Surgery is done to remove tumors that are cancer. Surgery can be used by itself to treat the cancer or it can be done with other treatments. Surgery can help cancer care team members:

• diagnose a cancer
• stage cancer
• plan other treatment you may need

Surgery in cancer care is used to

• Diagnose and stage a cancer.
• Remove the whole cancer (tumor/mass).
• Remove some, but not the entire tumor. A surgeon may not be able to safely remove all of the cancer because it could harm other parts of the body. This is often called a de-bulking surgery.
• Ease symptoms caused by the cancer. This is called palliative surgery.
• To return/change the body’s condition after a surgery. This is called reconstructive or restorative surgery. Examples of this type of surgery are breast reconstruction or reversal of colostomy.

A surgical oncologist is a surgeon who has special training in treating cancer. Your surgical oncologist may be called in to diagnose cancer with a biopsy. Surgical oncologists also treat cancer by removing tumors or other cancerous tissue.

Surgical oncology has emerged to play an increasingly important role in the multidisciplinary treatment of cancer. There are many reasons for this evolution of surgical oncology, but the most significant are:

• the increasing complexity of multidisciplinary cancer care;
• the opportunities for clinical and laboratory investigation of cancer's complex biology;
• the rapid increase in the number of medical and radiation specialty boarded oncologists, which threatens to diminish significantly the traditional role of the surgeon in coordinating the management of cancer care for patients (even those with early disease); and
• the expectation of patients that surgeons have the latest information and understand the newest treatment options.8