How Surgical Oncologists Improve Cancer Survival Rates

Health Mar 12, 2025 2 Add to Reading List

Despite recent innovations in Surgical Oncology, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with surgery being one of the most life-saving interventions. Surgical Oncologists are key providers of life-saving surgical procedures and an integral part of the cancer diagnostic, treatment and management multidisciplinary team. Through the application of modern technologies, as well as minimally invasive methods and a team-centred approach to cancer care, Oncological Surgeons’ contributions to the outcomes of patients’ treatment are significant. This article looks into modern oncological surgery practices to analyse its role in cancer outcome improvement and the breadth of its impact on oncology.

The Role of Surgical Oncologists in Cancer Treatment

Surgical Oncology is the medical specialty focused primarily on the surgical battle against cancer. Surgical Oncologists operate by excising cancerous tumours, surrounding diseased tissues and sometimes regional lymph nodes to avert further progression of the disease. The executed processes are framed by thorough pre- and post-operative work. Distance oncologists, radiotherapists, pathologists and other specialists design an individualised approach alongside them.

Key Responsibilities of Surgical Oncologists:

Cancer Surgery: Removal of cancerous tumours with maximum preservation of healthy surrounding tissues.

Biopsy Extractions:

Surgery to obtain tissue samples to confirm or explicate diagnoses.

Assessment of Cancer Staging:

Deciding how far the illness has advanced and how it should be treated.

Restorative Surgery:

A term for surgery whose primary purpose is to improve the appearance or functional ability of a person after they have undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumour.

Multi-disciplinary Working:

Work done by a number of specialists in combination with one another, each one offering their own expertise and talent.

How Surgical Oncology Improves Survival Ratios

1. Timely Detection and Diagnosis

Timely identification aids in the maximal improvement of survival rates of cancer patients. Surgical oncologists use diagnostic surgeries and biopsies to detect cancer at its earliest stage which, if treated at the right time, can allow for faster recovery with effective steps undertaken.

Reasons Why Detecting Early Is Preferable:

Great likelihood of recovering from the ailment.
Less drastic treatment and stronger medication required.
Diminished chances of cancer metastases to other organs.

Survival rates in breast cancer patients have significantly improved due to early diagnosis combined with breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy) is one such case.

2. Laparoscopic Surgeries, Robotic-Assisted Surgeries.

Surgical oncology has advanced due to the development and adoption of minimally invasive techniques, like laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgeries, as they decrease recovery time, have fewer complications, and have better precision.

Benefits of Doing Surgery Using Robotic System:

Decreased pain along with accelerated healing due to smaller cuts.
Decreased chances of infection along with blood loss.
Faster recovery and lower hospital residency duration.

The da Vinci Surgical System is famous for robotic-assisted surgeries which automatically increase the success rate of tumour removal surgery, therefore increasing the chances of surviving prostate, lung, and gastrointestinal cancer.

3. Other Specialised Techniques that Aid in Tumour Removal

A careful approach taken by surgical oncologists allows them not only to successfully remove the tumour but also to keep the critical structures in place and minimise chances of recurrence.

Significant Advances in Tumour Excision Techniques:

Fluorescence-guided Surgery (FGS): Employs fluorescent dyes to differentiate cancerous cells, thus guaranteeing successful tumour removal.
Intraoperative MRI and CT Scans: Deliver real-time imaging during surgery for accurate cuts.
Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy (SLNB): Finds the first lymph node that has cancer in order to avoid the needless excision of non-afflicted lymph nodes.
Complications and mortality rates are lowered while ensuring that the entire tumour is excised, thereby increasing the chances of patient survival.

4. Neoadjuvant and Adjuvant Therapies

Surgical oncologists usually perform surgery together with neoadjuvant (before surgery) or adjuvant (after surgery) therapies in order to meet the target objectives of the treatment plan.

Neoadjuvant Therapy:

Used before surgery in order to make the cases feasible in surgical procedures by increasing the scope of the resection. Widely used in breast, lung and rectal cancers.

Adjuvant Therapy:

Done after surgical excision of tumour to eliminate most of the cancer cells and reduce their chances of reappearing.

The combination of these treatment modalities helps perioperative cancer care and improve the overall survival rates and remissions of cancer.

5. Personalised and Precision-Based Surgery

Every case of cancer is distinct, and surgical oncologists develop bespoke approaches dependent on the genetic profile of a patient along with the type of tumour.

Examples of Personalised Surgical Approaches:

3D printing for Surgical Planning: Build a model of the tumour for accurate and detailed surgical strategies.

Molecular and genetic tests make it easy to classify different types of cancer and the particular surgical approach to be used.

Organ-Preserving Surgeries:

Concentrate on removing only the cancerous parts of the organ, which enhances organ function along with quality of life and survivorship.

6. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS):

This protocol incorporates advances in rehabilitation and therapy in medicine by targeting improvement for the entire experience of surgery, including before, during and after it, for better speed of recovery and results.

Main Parts of ERAS:

Nutrition and physical activity prior to surgery.
Less opioids prescribed and more ways of managing pain as it is being processed.
Mobilisation and rehabilitation of the patient after the operation in a timely manner.
Patients receiving ERAS protocols have fewer complications, spend less time in hospital and have better results after surgery.

7. Preventive Cancer Surgeries

For patients whose chances of getting cancer, especially based on family history, surgical oncologists will conduct certain surgeries with the intent to prevent development of cancer.

Some Preventive Surgeries Include:

Mastectomy in Patients with BRCA Mutation: To prevent breast cancer in certain high-risk patients.
Colectomy for Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP): To prevent colorectal cancer.
Oophorectomy for Patients with Ovarian Cancer: To prevent development of ovarian cancer among women with genetic predisposition.
These surgeries help high-risk individuals live longer by decreasing their chances of developing cancer.

8. The Need For A Translational Approach To Care

The oncological surgeon collaborates with a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist and an oncological interdisciplinary physician in providing multiprofessional holistic care of the patient's cancer disease.

Primary Goals of Multidisciplinary Collaboration:

Rethink treatment methods to improve them further by using different specialties.
Put the patient in the middle of interdisciplinary care to help him/her more efficiently recover from the illness.
Give strategies tailored to the patient that will increase chances of survival.

The Future of Surgical Oncology

The future of surgical oncology seems very positive because new procedures are continuously being developed to try and improve the survival rates even further.

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Surgery

AI is being employed in the automation of surgical workflows which includes assisting in pre-surgical planning, AI enhancing robotic-assisted surgeries and real-time imaging analysis.

2. Nanotechnology in Cancer Surgery

Research on particulate matter has advanced to the point where certain types of nanoparticles can be used to target and destroy cancer cells, resulting in a very high likelihood of preserving the healthy tissue.

3. Liquid Biopsies for Post-Surgical Monitoring

Liquid biopsies enable real-time monitoring of the patient's circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), which makes it much easier to locate residual cancer cells and treat them as necessary.

Conclusion

Surgical oncologists are a key member of the team responsible for improving the outcomes of patients suffering from cancer through their proactive use of specialised techniques combined with a multidisciplinary approach and personalised surgical methods. Their thorough understanding of cancer diagnosis, aggressive tumour excision, and laparoscopy has ensured good results. Nevertheless, with the rapid advancements in technology, the field of surgical oncology has more opportunities which translate into higher survival rates and increased quality of life for patients with cancer. Taking these facts into account, it is appropriate to seek help from an oncological surgeon for any patient suffering from cancer or who has relatives that need treatment attention.