Surgery is an ancient and constantly evolving medical specialty that involves treatment of injuries or disorders of the body by incision or manipulation, especially with instruments. Surgical procedures are generally categorized based on timing, purpose, type of procedure, body parts, degree of invasiveness of procedures and type of equipments used.
Modern surgery is usually performed in an operating theater by using surgical instruments along with an operating table for the patient, and other equipments. Surgical procedures are often governed by the principles of aseptic technique. Patients are required to have a medical examination prior to surgery, and their physical status is rated according to the ASA physical status classification system. To reduce the possibility of infections, the patient’s skin surface area to be operated on, is cleaned and prepared by applying chlorhexidine gluconate or povidone-iodine. To prevent pain from suturing, incision, and tissue manipulation, anesthesia is administered to the patients.
The approach to the surgical site may involve several layers of incision and dissection. For example, in abdominal surgery, the incision must traverse skin, subcutaneous tissue, three layers of muscle and then peritoneum. In such cases, bone may be cut to further reach the interior of the body. The blood lost during surgery may be compensated with the help of blood expanders. As soon as the surgical procedure is completed, patients are transferred to the post-anesthesia care unit and monitored with care.
Older adults have widely inconstant physical health and assessment of these patients before elective surgeries can accurately predict the patients’ recovery trajectories. Surgery on children requires considerations which are not common in adult surgery. Bariatric surgery in youth is among the controversial topics related to surgery in children. Surgeons are using quality-of-life assessment to help select patients for surgery and determine the effects of surgical treatment, monitor patients over time, and for making policy decisions.