CHECKING EXTENT OF CANCER BEFORE ATTEMPTING POTENTIALLY CURATIVE SURGERY – EXAMPLE

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:01:01 +0000

For example, some surgeons recommend very major surgery for locally extensive cancer of the cervix (neck of the womb). This operation is sometimes recommended for cancer of the cervix that has grown into nearby pelvic organs: removal of the entire womb, upper vagina, fallopian tubes, both ovaries, all pelvic lymph nodes, the bladder and the lower bowel. The woman is left with bags on openings in the abdominal wall for both urine and faeces. People who agree to such surgery only because it gives them a chance of being cured altogether, should be checked very, very carefully for blood-borne secondary deposits beforehand. The check on the lungs I described above would not be sufficient if surgery like this was planned. Because the lungs are a common site for secondary cancer of the cervix they should be checked with a CT scan before such a drastic operation.

On the other hand, some of the less drastic operations aimed at cure also have a secondary aim. Surgical removal can be the best way of preventing or relieving symptoms from the primary growth. Thus, even people who are not cured may stand to gain something important from these operations—prevention or relief of unpleasant symptoms. Find out whether this is true for the operation that has been recommended for you. If you are sure that the operation is worth having even if if doesn’t cure you, it doesn’t matter so much if small secondary deposits are not found before the operation. Finding them after the operation like this would certainly be disappointing, but just think how much worse it would be for a patient who had had the operation for cervix cancer described above—it would be a complete tragedy.

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CHECKING EXTENT OF CANCER BEFORE ATTEMPTING POTENTIALLY CURATIVE SURGERY – EXAMPLE