Debulking

Debulking is the reduction of as much of the bulk, or volume, of a tumor as possible without the intention of complete eradication, usually achieved by surgical removal. When performed with curative intent, the different procedure is instead called cytoreduction or cytoreductive surgery, since debulking with curative intent is generally not a worthwhile intervention except in some cancer types. Ovarian cancer and some types of brain tumor are debulked before radiotherapy or chemotherapy begin, making those therapies more effective, and debulking may also be used with slow-growing tumors to shift tumor cells from a resting phase of the cell cycle into the replicative pool.