Resection
Also known as: surgical removal, excision
Surgery to cut out a tumour, often together with a rim of surrounding normal tissue.
Definition
Resection is the surgical removal of a tumour, typically together with a rim of surrounding normal tissue to give a clear margin. Nearby lymph nodes may also be removed in the same operation for staging.
Examples include lumpectomy and mastectomy for breast cancer, lobectomy for lung cancer, colectomy for colon cancer and prostatectomy for prostate cancer. Whether a tumour is "resectable" depends on its size, location, relationship to vital structures, and the patient's overall fitness for surgery. Neoadjuvant therapy is sometimes used to shrink a borderline-resectable tumour first.
See also
- Margin — The rim of normal-looking tissue around a tumour after it is surgically removed.
- Mastectomy — Surgery to remove all or most of the breast tissue, usually to treat breast cancer.
- Excisional Biopsy — A biopsy in which the entire lump or suspicious area is removed for examination.
- Neoadjuvant Therapy — Treatment given before the main therapy (usually surgery) to shrink the tumour first.
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Medically reviewed by
Dr. Rehan Abdullah
Dr. Rehan Abdullah is a dual-trained clinical and radiation oncologist with over a decade of experience treating both solid tumours and hematologic malignancies. He serves as Consultant Oncologist at INMOL Hospital and sees patients at Farooq Hospital and Healthnox Medical Center, Lahore. Read full profile →
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