A surgical operation is a process of invasive medical treatment which involves the cutting of a body for a specific reason. It may be for removing the diseased organ or to repair a tear or a breakage. A person involved in performing this is called a surgeon. A surgeon needs to be highly trained in all these processes. There are also different sub-fields in the same career path. Surgeons can be physicians, veterinarians, dentists or podiatrists. In medical terms, a surgeon is a physician who specializes in surgery. In the modern times, Robotic surgery is an area of growing interest.
There are a wide list of surgeries which include dental surgery, cardiac surgery, breast surgery, endocrine surgery, vascular surgery, transplant surgery, lower and upper gastro intestinal surgeries, hand surgery, maxilla facial surgery, neurological surgery, orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmology, pediatric surgery, surgical oncology, trauma surgery, urology, thoracic surgery and lots more. Some of the doctors who are general practitioners or are specialists in family medicine can also perform minor or emergency surgeries. Anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists are the basic requirements for pre-surgery and also to maintain a stable condition. There are also a few trained professionals who provide a helping hand for the surgeons such as the first assistants, surgical nurses, surgical technologists and operating department practitioners. These people are trained to perform the tasks accurately on a surgical table.
A surgery basically consists of a process involving physical intervention on the tissues. As it directly involves operating or cutting of a patient’s body. The other procedures such as endoscopy or angioplasty are considered as surgeries if they include the common surgical procedures namely anesthesia, sterile environment, surgical equipments, stapling and antiseptics. All forms of surgeries are called invasive procedures which refer to a process involving excision, which does not really penetrate in the structure which is being excised. The best example would be the laser treatment of cornea. A surgeon needs to be well versed in the surgical procedures as surgery is a procedure generally categorized by the urgency, body system involved, type of procedure, special instrumentation and degree of invasiveness. On this basis it can be categorized in to elective surgery, emergency surgery and exploratory surgery.