What happens behind the operation theatre doors | CION Cancer Clinics

Inside the theatre, the team checks who you are, puts you to sleep or numbs you, and then pauses once more to confirm the plan before the first cut. The surgeon removes the cancer, the anaesthetist keeps you safe and asleep, and the nurses count every swab and instrument before the wound is closed.

A room built around safety

The theatre is cold, bright and very clean. It is kept cold partly for the equipment and partly to keep germs down. You will be covered with warm blankets or a warming mattress, because a patient who gets cold bleeds more and heals more slowly.

You will remember very little

Most people remember the lights, a few friendly faces in masks and a mask or drip. After the anaesthetic starts, there is nothing until you wake in recovery. Many people are surprised by how quickly that moment comes.

Where the family is meanwhile

Family members say goodbye at the theatre door or the pre-op area. They cannot come inside, even if one of them is a doctor. They wait nearby, and a nurse or the surgeon comes to find them if they are needed during the operation, or once it is over. Make sure the ward has a working phone number for at least one of them.

What this page cannot tell you

Every operation is different. This page describes what is common to most cancer operations under general anaesthesia. It cannot tell you exactly what will be done in your case. Your surgeon can.

The surgeon aims to take out the tumour with a rim of healthy tissue around it. That rim is called the margin. A clear margin means no cancer cells are found at the edge of what was removed.

Lymph nodes may come out too

Lymph nodes are small glands that filter fluid from the area. Cancer often spreads to them first, so nearby nodes are frequently removed and checked. How many are taken depends on the cancer and where it sits.

Sometimes a test is done during the operation

For some operations, a piece of tissue is sent to the pathology lab while you are still asleep. This is called a frozen section. The result can come back quickly and may change what the surgeon does next, such as taking a wider margin.

Everything is sent to the lab

What is removed is labelled and sent to the pathology lab. The full report takes longer, often several days. It is that report, and not the look of the tumour in theatre, that tells your team what further treatment you may need.