Cancer treatment

Surgery

For some patients, surgery is the first course of treatment and is used to remove cancerous tumors and tissues. Depending on the health of the patient and the location and size of the tumor, surgery may be combined with other types of therapy, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

Improved instrumentation over the years allows surgeons to operate with greater precision, when possible using smaller incisions that allow patients to recuperate faster. Many procedures can now be performed on an outpatient basis, allowing patients to return home the same day. When major surgery is required, Yale-New Haven patients recover in comfortable post-surgical units, where specially trained nurses help in every step of their recovery.

Next page: Radiation therapy

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Last revised: Dec. 6, 2007 (dh)

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