Surgery

[debbru]

Can someone explain why you need to have surgery if chemo shrinks the cancer to nothing 

[Budgie]

Hi debbru,

It’s because even though there’s no visible remnants of the tumour, there’s the risk on some infected cells remaining.   When they do surgery, they like to take a margin of healthy tissue surrounding the deposit site just to make sure they’ve got it all.   Even then, there’s no guarantee that it hasn’t already spread through the blood. 

Budgie

[MzDimz]

Once the tumor or ‘necrosis’ is removed, it is tested to see if all of the cancer is dead or whether there are live cells still floating around.  Even if your tumour has reduced to feeling as though there is nothing there, there is a chance that the centre or elsewhere still contains live cancer cells.  That was the case with me.