ABSTRACT
Surgery is the most effective treatment for localized cancers either alone or in combination with regional radiotherapy or adjuvant systemic chemotherapy. The type of surgery required will be determined by the type of tumour and the anatomical site, and may include wide local excision of the tumour mass, removal of part of an organ and surrounding tissue, and removal of an entire organ. En bloc removal of the immediate lymphatic drainage areas is usually an integral part of any cancer surgery. The combination of surgery with radiotherapy enables the extent of surgery to be limited by treating sites of microscopic disease immediately adjacent to the primary site with radiotherapy. For large tumours (>5 cm) local control rates are often better for combined therapy than either modality alone. Surgery is indicated for the immediate draining of nodes around a primary tumour.
