Is it true that cancer spreads faster after a person has been opened up for surgery?

Perhaps the most: Misguided myth of cancer and cancer treatment. There is no evidence or credibility to this, but the cause of the myth came from premature operation before adequate work up. The "peek and shriek" occured when inadequate diagnostic work up before an operation, and when the surgeon realized nothing could be done and closed, the common phrase "the air got to it" was really more about injudicious op.