When I watch TV I often hear the doctors (actors) assure patients and their family that they got “all of the cancer” during removal surgeries.
In my mind… I always thought that cancer was a lump of cells… multiplying uncontrolled… and at some point along its margins, it borders normal tissue.
How can you possibly cut perfectly between normal tissue and cancerous tissue?
That’s what TV says. In reality, people get tested for years after it’s in remission. https://xkcd.com/931/
Many TV writers are ignorant dorks. Cancer is never “cured,” it’s “in remission.” Cells at the margin that have been excised are biopsied, which can allow doctors to say “the margins are clear.” That’s what my doctor said to me, looking a little wary. “Why the long face?” I asked. “I don’t trust squamous cells,” he replied.
I guess you use enough margin? I have a friend who had breast cancer but they found it at an early stage and by removing the whole breast, they were confident that cancerous cells were contained and hadn’t spread to the rest of the body yet.
