Surgery plays a very important part in the treatment of certain tumours. Depending on the size and position of the tumour in the body, an operation to remove it may be the first part of treatment. More often though a biopsy of the tumour is taken first to make the diagnosis.

Sometimes, an operation may be dangerous or cause too much damage to tissues because of the size and position of the tumour. In these cases, chemotherapy or radiotherapy may be given before an operation to shrink the tumour and make surgery easier.