Question: Does Surgery Cause Ovarian Cancer To Spread?
Ovarian cancer surgery usually requires an incision, which means cancer is manually handled and exposed to air. Does this cause the cancer to accelerate its spread?
Answer: As far as air touching the cancer, no. This is an old wives tale. Research has been performed to disprove this concept. The cancer actually gets more oxygen through the blood supply than through direct contact. In addition, exposure to more oxygen does not cause a flare of growth.
As far as physical manipulation of the cancer, there has been a longstanding perception among surgeons that inadvertently squeezing an early cancer may cause cancer cells to break off into the blood stream and/or the lymphatic system and spread. Most of the research has been done in colo-rectal and pancreatic cancer surgery and there does appear to be some effect. From that, various "no-touch" techniques have been developed for various procedures. There is no medical evidence that this is true in ovarian cancer surgery, but minimizing manipulation is considered prudent by many surgeons.
As far as physical manipulation of the cancer, there has been a longstanding perception among surgeons that inadvertently squeezing an early cancer may cause cancer cells to break off into the blood stream and/or the lymphatic system and spread. Most of the research has been done in colo-rectal and pancreatic cancer surgery and there does appear to be some effect. From that, various "no-touch" techniques have been developed for various procedures. There is no medical evidence that this is true in ovarian cancer surgery, but minimizing manipulation is considered prudent by many surgeons.
