Surgical oncology: biological and clinical behavior of the cancer, precancerous lesions

1. Big picture

Surgical oncology is the part of surgery dealing with diagnosis, staging, curative resection, palliation, and follow-up of malignant tumours. The surgeon must understand not only how to remove a tumour, but also how cancer behaves biologically:

Normal cell → dysplasia → carcinoma in situ → invasive cancer → local invasion → lymphatic/hematogenous spread → recurrence/metastasis

For the exam, the core idea is:

Diagnose histologically → stage anatomically → assess resectability and operability → plan surgery within multidisciplinary treatment → remove tumour with adequate margins and lymphatic drainage when curative surgery is possible.

Cancer surgery is never only “cutting out a mass.” It is based on tumour biology, staging, margins, lymph nodes, organ function, and whether the aim is curative, palliative, diagnostic, reconstructive, or preventive.

---