There can be times when cancer may not respond to treatment in the way doctors initially expect. Doctors usually treat you with neoadjuvant therapy at such times. Neoadjuvant therapy doesn’t just shrink your tumors, but can help doctors to understand tumor response to the treatment. Based on this, doctors can gain insights to plan the safest way to conduct the surgery.
How is treatment response checked?
Doctors never directly move to surgery after giving you neoadjuvant therapy. They first evaluate how much of your tumors have shrunk, and only then do they discuss the best possible way to remove the tumors.
Tumor shrinkage can allow doctors to see how much of your cancer tumors have shrunk in size after the treatment.
A treatment assessment can help doctors to understand how well the neoadjuvant therapy has worked in destroying cancer cells.
Only after assessing the treatment response is the type of surgery finalized for the removal of your tumor.
Tests before surgery
After assessing your treatment’s response, doctors plan for surgery. But to understand the location and size of your tumor, doctors can use a few imaging techniques.
MRI scans can give doctors a detailed image of soft tissues so they can assess tumors and the surrounding area.
A CT scan can help doctors evaluate the size and the exact locations of your tumors.
Other diagnostic tests can also help ensure the surgical plan is executed precisely and safely.
How do doctors actually conduct your surgery?
After finding out the exact location of your tumors, doctors perform the surgery. They make sure all the tumors are carefully removed without harming the surrounding healthy tissues. After this, they carefully assess your condition and look for any residuals of your tumors, so they can be removed with precision. While doing this, they ensure the surrounding tissue margins are clear to not spare any cancer cells. Finally, doctors examine your lymph nodes to check if cancer has spread in your body.
Preparing your body for surgery
To perform the surgery, you need to stay fit for handling the procedure and recovery. Before performing their surgery, doctors take time to understand your medical condition. They assess how your body behaves after giving neoadjuvant therapy. If your body is responding to the treatment properly, only then will the surgery be finalized. This is to ensure your quality of life isn’t disturbed, and the surgery stays safe for you.
Surgery guided by responses
Regular body scans can be really overwhelming when you are already going through a demanding treatment. But these scans can actually help doctors understand your cancer, so they can perform the best possible surgery that is safe for your recovery and quality of life.