St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center houses two surgical suites in its Ambulatory Surgery Unit. Surgery is often the first line of treatment for cancer, and may be followed up with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. The surgical oncologists at SVCCC treat cancer through a less-radical approach that emphasizes comfort, rapid recovery, and preservation of healthy tissue.
Some common procedures performed in the Ambulatory Surgery Unit are:

• Breast surgery (biopsy, biopsy with preoperative wire placement, lumpectomy, axillary biopsy and/or dissection, sentinel lymph node biopsy and/or dissection, mastectomy with and without immediate reconstruction)
• Insertion of vascular access devices for treatment (catheters and mediports for chemotherapy & stem cell collection/transplant)
• Second-stage reconstructive plastic surgery for cancer
• High dose rate (HDR) and prostate seed implants
• Ovoid/tandem cervical sleeve for radiation
• A variety of other excisions/biopsies