Cancer surgery is a common part of diagnosing and treating cancer. Here's a look at how surgery is used to care for people with cancer.

Common reasons you might have cancer surgery include:

Surgery is often used with other cancer treatments. These treatments can include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and other treatments. Which treatments are best for you depends on the type of cancer you have, its stage and your overall health.

When it's possible, the goal of cancer surgery is to remove all of the cancer from the body. To do this, the surgeon uses cutting tools to remove the cancer and some healthy tissue around it.

The surgeon may also remove some lymph nodes in the area. The lymph nodes are tested to see if they contain cancer cells. If cancer spreads to the lymph nodes, there's a chance that the cancer could spread to other parts of the body.

Many other types of operations can be used to treat cancer. Researchers continue to look at new methods. Some other types of cancer surgery include:

Natural orifice surgery. Natural orifice surgery is a way to operate on organs in the belly without cutting through the skin. Instead, surgeons pass surgical tools through a natural body opening, such as the mouth, rectum or vagina.

For example, a surgeon might put surgical tools down the throat and into the stomach. A small cut is made in the wall of the stomach. Surgical tools then move into the area around the stomach. The tools could take a sample of liver tissue or remove the gallbladder.

Natural orifice surgery is a new type of surgery. Surgeons hope it can lower the risk of infection, pain and other problems after surgery.

Cancer surgery continues to change. Researchers are looking at other types of less invasive surgery.

How you get ready for and heal from cancer surgery depends on the operation. In general, you can expect certain things to be the same, including:

The risks of surgery will depend on the type of operation you're having. In general, most cancer operations have a risk of:

Loss of organ function. To remove your cancer, the provider may need to remove an entire organ. For example, a kidney may need to be removed if you have kidney cancer.

For some such operations, the remaining organ can work well enough that you'll feel like you did before surgery. In other situations, you could have some problems after surgery. For instance, removal of a lung may make it harder to breathe.

Blood clots. Recovery from surgery gives you a higher risk of developing a blood clot. Though the risk is small, this can be serious.

Your health care team will take steps to reduce your risk of blood clots. They will get you up and out of bed as soon as possible after your operation. They may also recommend a blood-thinning medicine to reduce the risk of a clot.

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