heroic surgery

An aggressive procedure—e.g., radical mastectomy for cancer—in which wide resection margins are obtained, as the tumour has spread beyond a resectable size. Heroic surgery is performed to alleviate pain or improve the quality of life in terminally ill patients, but is not generally regarded as curative

heroic surgery

Surgical oncology An aggressive procedure–eg, radical mastectomy for malignancy, in which wide resection margins are obtained, as the tumor has spread beyond a resectable size; HS is performed to alleviate pain or improve the quality of life in terminally ill Pts. See All-American operation, Commando operation, Forequarter amputation. Cf Heroic therapy.