The Role of Amputation in Cancer Treatment: When and Why It’s Necessary

When you hear the words “cancer treatment” you're probably thinking about chemotherapy or radiation therapy, what you're not thinking is amputation. But after a little thought it seems like it could be a possible solution to a worst case scenario. Sometimes amputation is the only way for a person to remove life threatening cancer from their body. It’s like how you can stop poison from spreading from your finger if you cut it off, while it might seem insane it’s the only way to survive. 

When is amputation necessary as a cancer treatment? Sometimes a cancer can literally just become too big or aggressive to handle anymore or maybe the cancer’s position is in a place where other methods are not logical. Other reasons could be if the cancer is recurring, maybe the cancer has spread to your nerves or blood vessels. In these cases amputation may be the only way to really take the cancer out of your body.  

When amputation is used as a method of cancer treatment it is usually possible to treat the disease without cutting away the entire limb, just a portion is enough to get the job done.  Being able to cleanly get rid of cancer without any major repercussions is a great success that all cancer treatments strive to attain, does the method matter if the result is the same? This method also works much faster than any other as it is a relatively instant process.  

The end goal of defeating cancer has many paths to it, it is best to consider all options, even amputation, before making a final decision.