Final answer:
Surgery is an essential medical procedure used for the treatment of diseases and injuries, including cancer, where it involves removing tumors and affected lymph nodes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding Surgery in the Context of Medical Treatment
Surgery is a vital part of medical treatment, primarily used for the treatment of disease or injury, and on occasion, for experimental purposes. In the context of cancer treatment, surgery is often employed as the primary method to treat most isolated, solid cancers. The goal is to remove the entire mass of the tumor, often along with the associated local lymph nodes, increasing the likelihood of a cure if the cancer is still localized. Furthermore, surgical interventions like biopsies allow for the removal and analysis of tissue specimens in a medical laboratory, often for the purpose of diagnosing conditions such as cancer.
Despite the advancements, historical limitations such as fear of the dead, legal sanctions, and inadequate surgical techniques made surgeries infrequent and hampered the advancement of knowledge on internal human anatomy. Over time, with the works of anatomists like Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius, and the eventual establishment of medical schools that taught anatomy through human dissection, the medical field saw significant progress. The late nineteenth century marked a breakthrough with the discovery of non-surgical methods like X-Rays to look inside the living body, enhancing diagnosis and treatment plans without the need for invasive surgery.