SURGERY OF TUMORS AND BOUNDARY SITUATIONS

Main Article Content

V. BELTRAMI
A. BERTAGNI
L. GALLINARO
G. MONTESANO
V. PRECE

Abstract

The term “limit” applied to cancer surgery, denotes the ideological moment beyond which one cannot and should not propose any a g g re s s i ve treatment. Such limits may concern the operability of a patient and may be re p resented by some general chara c t e r i s t i c s independent of the patient’s current disease status (e.g. ve ry old age, poor perf o rmance status, poor cardiac, re s p i ra t o ry, renal hepatic or mental conditions). They may concern the neoplastic invo l ve m e n t of the organ affected by the tumor: if undertaken, surgery should g u a rantee a reasonable duration of life, and a quality of life that makes it worth living. Other factors to be taken in considera t i o n a re the possibility the tumor spread to local or distant sites, as we l l as certain extreme conditions such as cancer cachexia, live r / k i d n e y f a i l u re, irre versibile septic-toxic shock, ect. Mo re ove r, there may be limits related to the stru c t u ral conditions of the establishment w h e re the operation is to be carried out (facilities, equipment, p h a rmacological supplies, medical and paramedical personnel) and to the social enviromnent and the economic situation of the patient, in view of the assistance re q u i red following surgery. Lasly, a seve re assessment of one’s own fitness to perf o rm any specific task should be part of the daily preparation of any surgeon.

Article Details

How to Cite
BELTRAMI, V., et al. “SURGERY OF TUMORS AND BOUNDARY SITUATIONS”. Annali Italiani Di Chirurgia, vol. 71, no. 4, July 2000, pp. 431-2, https://annaliitalianidichirurgia.it/index.php/aic/article/view/39.
Section
Review