Gynaecological cancer surgery

Cancers of the female genital tract account for a significant proportion of cancers in women. Surgery plays a major role in the management of these patients. As a single modality, it provides definitive treatment for early-stage cancers and contributes to the management of patients with advanced cancers as part of multimodality treatment. Surgery can involve relatively simple procedures, such as wide local excision for microinvasive lesions of the vulva. However, for more advanced cancers, such as metastatic ovarian cancer, surgery can be very complex indeed, at times requiring resection of non-gynaecological organs, such as small or large bowel. Extensive surgical training and experience is needed to successfully manage patients with these challenging conditions, and this has resulted in the development of the subspecialty of gynaecological oncology. This chapter discusses the place of surgery in the treatment of individual gynaecological cancers.