Cancer surgery is an operation or procedure to remove a tumor from the body. Sometimes, some surrounding healthy tissue is also removed. It is the oldest kind of cancer treatment, and it still works well to treat many types of cancer today. A doctor who specializes in cancer surgery is called a surgical oncologist.

When it’s possible, the goal of cancer surgery is to remove all of the cancer from the body. To achieve this, the surgeon uses cutting tools to remove the cancer and some healthy tissue around it. Lymph nodes in the area may also be removed and tested for cancer cells. If cancer spreads to the lymph nodes, there’s a chance it could spread to other parts of the body.

Other techniques used in cancer surgery include cryosurgery (using cold material to destroy cancer cells), electrosurgery (using electric current to kill cancer cells), laser surgery (using light beams to shrink or eliminate cancer cells), and Mohs surgery (carefully removing cancer layer by layer).