The Dove Clinic for Integrated Medicine
Surgery
Surgery is the most important way of removing tumour mass. It is used as the first line of treatment for the majority of solid tumours. Surgery does have a downside, in that it depresses cell mediated immune function and also malignant cells are often discharged around the body at the time of surgery. There are things we can do which will minimise the drop in cell mediated immune function and would hopefully reduce the risk of metastases (secondary tumours). It is at the time of surgery that tumour cells circulating round the body can stick to the insides of blood vessels and ‘seed’ and then produce a metastasis.