Surgery, the oldest method of treating cancer, can effectively cure many kinds of cancer, especially in the initial stages.

- Types of Surgery:
Surgery can be done for several reasons:

1. Preventive surgery- is done to remove tissues that have more chances of becoming cancerous. Sometimes an entire organ is removed in cases where patients have family history of a particular kind of cancer.

2. Diagnostic surgery Through this surgery, a sample of the tissue is taken out to ascertain the presence of cancerous cells. The type of cancer can be known by studying cells under the microscope.

3. Staging surgery -is done to determine the extent and the amount of cancer.

4. Curative surgery- involves removal of tumor that is limited to a particular area. It can be used individually or along with chemotherapy and radiation therapy either before the surgery or after it.

5. Debulking (cytoreductive)- surgery is done when doctors remove tumor as much as possible and treat the remaining cancerous cells either by radiation therapy or chemotherapy.

6. Palliative surgery- is used to treat complications of advanced disease.

7. Supportive surgery- is used to help with other types of treatment.

8. Restorative surgery- is done after surgery to restore function of the organ affected by the tumor.

- Techniques of Surgery:
There are different techniques of doing surgery:

• Laser Surgery: It is be used for precisely aiming at a particular tissue or part affected by cancer.
• Cryosurgery: Here abnormal cells are killed by freezing them with the help of a very cold probe.
• Electrosurgery: In this type, electrical currents are passed to destroy cells. It is used in some cases of skin and mouth cancer.
• Mohs Surgery: It is used when the extent of the tumor is not known. In this type, one cancerous layer of skin is removed at a time. If the cells look normal when checked under the microscope, doctor stops the surgery.