Each surgery has its own objective, whether to positively identify cancer or to make life easier for a terminally-ill patient. And these objectives can be loosely classified into four stages of progression:
Diagnose A surgery to diagnose cancer is explorative in nature, and has three primary conditions that need to be fulfilled before diagnostic surgery will even be considered: when a doctor needs to know what is going on in your body, when standard diagnosis procedures yield inconclusive or unsatisfactory results, and when the threat to your body is great and imminent.
The biopsy for cancer involves taking tissue samples from suspected cancerous regions to determine whether or not the cells are malignant. MRI's, ultrasound and mammography can all help raise suspicion for cancer, but only a biopsy will determine for certain whether you have cancer or not.
Prevent An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. This is a common saying in the health and medical sector, but sometimes that ounce can be equal to or more than the pound; especially when you are given the choice to disfigure yourself or to extend your life.
Cancer has a bad habit of sneaking up on people and taking them by surprise. A woman whose family has a strong history of breast or ovarian cancer is at high risk of developing it herself, and she is given the choice to have surgery or take the risk of developing cancer. Either way will not yield pretty results, and the final decision will rest upon the patient's shoulders.
Cure When cancer is detected and confirmed, drastic measures will be taken to preserve the life of the patient. And when that happens, the scalpel, laser and liquid nitrogen then become the tools to remove and take care of the solid tumors that have formed up in the body.
But there is a snag to curative surgery for cancer: only solid tumors can be cut out, and entire masses of tissue, even the organ itself, will have to be removed. This makes curative surgery impossible when the tumor is spread out or has grown unto a vital organ in the body.
Comfort When all else fails, and the fate of a patient is sealed, then all that can be done is to make the patient's life as comfortable as possible. Palliative surgery would then aim to block the pain that comes with cancer; allowing the patient to live out the remainder of his or her days without the torturous effects of radiation and medicine.
There is just one thing to keep in mind: the entire ordeal of surgery for cancer can be avoided by regularly seeing your doctor for a checkup. A few minutes a year can mean the difference between swift, minimal treatment and a life of pain and anguish.
Author: Brent McNutt
About the author:
Brent McNutt enjoys talking about urban scrubs and buy urbane scrubs and networking with healthcare professionals online.
Article source: Free Cancer Articles.
