Regional Therapy of Cancer

Surgical resection is the primary treatment and typically the only curative therapy for most solid malignancies. Throughout this surgical textbook, virtually all chapters dealing with individual organs have some portion of that chapter devoted to the surgical treatment of primary cancer at that site. For example, Chapter 96 on breast disease primarily discusses the treatment of cancer because this is by far the predominant surgical disease in that organ. On the other hand, Chapter 49 on the small intestine has a much smaller proportion dealing with cancer as primary malignancies comprise a smaller fraction of the surgical diseases involving the small intestine. A specialized type or category of surgical treatment for cancer can be categorized as regional therapy. As opposed to straightforward surgical resection, in this type of therapy a specific region or area of the body is treated. Regional therapy is primarily applicable to metastatic disease limited to one site or area of the body. There are two broad categories of regional therapy of cancer: (1) vascular-based treatments and (2) intracavitary treatments. The most successfully treated areas of the body by vascular means are the extremities and the liver.