Surgery poses many risks to a cancer patient.
The known side effects associated with the surgical removal of tumors include anesthesia complications, infections, and immune suppression. A newly discovered surgery side effect of concern to cancer patients is that the removal of the primary tumor may directly stimulate the propagation of metastatic lesions. The theory is that an intact primary tumor regulates the growth of metastatic lesions by naturally secreting anti-angiogenesis agents such as endostatin and angiostatin . Once the primary tumor has been surgically removed, the amount of endostatin and angiostatin to control new blood vessel growth is drastically reduced, and metastasized lesions begin proliferating out of control. If the immune depression that surgery induces is factored in, the failure of surgery to meaningfully prolong the life of cancer patients becomes quite understandable.