Laboratory Services

Surgery as a medical field has been changing rapidly since the late 1800s, in large part thanks to the development of safe and effective anesthesia.

Surgical oncology is a specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment of a variety of tumors. Ephraim McDowell did the first reported resection of an ovarian tumor in 1809, but as early as the 7th century, ancient Egyptians described techniques for removing breast tumors. Today, general surgeons can pursue additional training after their residency in the form of a surgical oncology fellowship.

However, a surgeon does not have to do a surgical oncology fellowship in order to be a surgical oncologist. What is more common is that a surgeon who is trained in a particular body site may develop expertise in cancers of that site, and thus have experience in the multidisciplinary approach to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of those cancers. For example, a thoracic surgeon who is a surgical oncologist may devote most of his practice to lung cancer, while a head and neck surgical oncologist would be involved in treatment of cancers specific to her training, such as cancer of the larynx.