If you have cancer in a certain organ (like liver cancer) why can’t you just remove the infected organ and be cancerfree again?
In: Biology
Well, given that all the organs are connected by various systems, not least of which is the blood vessels, AND given that most of them have to do with taking something out of, or adding something to the blood, or both, its not quite as simple as all that. Furthermore, its not like you can just get your liver whipped out, or decide that eating is no longer required and bin your stomach off willy nilly. The reason some organ cancers are such a bastard, is because you literally need those things unless you want to be dependent on some artificial alternative, like bags and tubes outside the body, which can be a real drag on ones quality of life, and some of those organs have literally no available replacement or stop gap that could go in their place. Sure, dialysis for kidneys is a thing, but most of the other organs cannot have their operations taken over by machinery, and those that can require a person to be constantly connected to some pretty bloody complicated medical tech. Its not like they can leave the hospital after the removal, all hunky dory and happy to be cancer free, because if they get disconnected from the machinery keeping them alive, its game the hell over.
No, its a very complicated situation, and thats before you get into the issue of cancers spreading via the blood vessels or by other systems in the body. Its usually better to kill the cancer while its in a specific location in the body, before it starts to migrate, than remove an entire organ or chunk thereof.
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