Surgery Causes Cancer to Spread. Myth or Fact?

I remember many people saying that surgery only caused cancer to spread. For so many cancer patients, some months after surgery to remove a tumor, the cancer would appear in another organ or organs of the body. From these observations it seemed obvious that the surgery only caused the cancer to migrate to other areas. It seemed a logical assumption. Although the medical profession and scientists now have a much better understanding of how cancerous cells and tumors function, the general public remains largely uninformed of their progress other than periodic announcements of some new treatment such as chemotherapy. The public still awaits the news of a "Magic Bullet" that will cure cancer.

When a family member is diagnosed with a serious disease, you become a student, learning all you can about the foe. Such was the case in December of 1999 when my wife was diagnosed with colon cancer. The tumor was located at the junction of the small and large intestine and grown to such an extent that the colon was all but completely blocked. Immediate surgery was the only recourse. Her post surgical evaluation placed her in Stage III, and statistically, she had a 50/50 chance of survival with chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy is designed to kill cancer cells. Different chemicals are more effective against cancers in specific organs. The chemicals do not totally discriminate between healthy and cancerous cells, and the whole body, not just the targeted organ, comes under attack by this poisonous chemical cocktail. As with many chemotherapy patients, my wife experienced hair loss, skin rashes, weight loss and a host of unpleasant side effects. Her body was so devastated by the chemotherapy that the dosage had to be reduced. After months of chemotherapy and clean checkups, she was taken off chemotherapy and returned to a more normal life. But recovery from chemotherapy can be and was a slow process.

Six months passed before new symptoms and pains appeared. The cancer was now in other organs and required more surgery to remove the ovaries and uterus. With the surgery completed and my wife in recovery, the surgeon gave me his report. Even before he spoke, his face told the story. Besides the ovaries and uterus, the surgeon found and removed numerous small tumors within the intestinal cavity. He removed what he found but remarked that there would be others he did not see. The battle was lost, and she died some months later in September of 2001. Did the first surgery cause the cancer to spread?

Although it is an understandable misconception that the surgery only caused the cancer to spread, it is not a fact. In the later stages of cancer, cells from the cancerous tumor are carried off in the lymphatic and circulatory systems. These cells eventually come to rest in some other organ and begin smaller tumors. Then a very strange phenomena takes place. Although there are many tumors, the new tumors grow at a much smaller rate than the main tumor. Scientists have discovered that the primary tumor emits a hormone that inhibits the growth of the smaller tumors. Why it does this is still a mystery. When the main tumor is surgically removed, so is the source of the growth inhibiting hormone. With the hormone gone, the smaller tumors begin to grow at a normal rate. So the surgery did not cause the cancer to spread. The cancer was already there and waiting.

But why didn't the chemotherapy work? For some types of cancer there is no designated chemotherapy treatment, and the oncologist must choose from his arsenal a chemical combination he hopes will be the most effective. One of the shortcomings of the present day chemotherapies is that they are designed to treat cancer in the targeted organ. Once the cancer spreads beyond the originating organ, as it does in later stages, chemotherapy is not as effective.