Surgical Oncology (Cancer Surgery)

Expert Cancer Surgery in a Comforting Environment

Cancer diagnosis and therapy requires the expertise of numerous physicians and non-physicians.  The medical oncologist, radiation oncologist and cancer surgeon work as a team to provide comprehensive cancer care. Surgery is the mainstay of curative therapy for the most common cancers including cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, lung and prostate. The cancer surgeon may be a surgical specialist in general surgery or surgical oncology, colorectal surgery, urology, ENT, orthopedics, neurosurgery, thoracic surgery, gynecology or plastic surgery.
 
At the Lipson Cancer Center at RGH, surgeons play a major role in the care of our patients with malignancies.  In 2003, over 2900 operations were performed for cancer patients.   At RGH the surgical services are equipped to provide all standard operations for the common and less-common cancers.   This capability includes operative management of complex upper and lower GI cancers (including the most technically challenging hepatobiliary, pancreatic and recurrent rectal cancers; lung and urologic cancers, complex orthopedic spinal problems resulting from cancer).  We utilize state-of-the-art cancer management methods including sentinel node mapping and biopsy for patients with breast cancer and melanoma as well as laser surgery.  For patients with primary and metastatic liver malignancies we offer advanced methods of liver resection, cryoablation or radiofrequency ablation (RFA), insertion of implantable hepatic arterial infusion pumps and chemoembolization.  Recently, the minimally invasive DaVinci Robotic Surgical System was introduced at RGH for use in urology (prostate cancer), colorectal surgery, and gynecology surgery.

The improvements in surgical results combined with reductions in operative morbidity and mortality have led to more intelligent and efficient uses of operative therapies for our cancer patients.  As shown in the graph below the positive outcomes with surgery have resulted in a 14% increase in operations performed on cancer patients at RGH between 1996 and 2002.

Phone: (585) 922-4715

Steven Ettinghausen, M.D., Chief Surgical Oncology

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