surgery
[sur´jer-e] 1. the branch of health science that treats diseases, injuries, and deformities by manual or operative methods.
2. the place where operative procedures are performed.
3. in Great Britain, a room or office where a doctor sees and treats patients.
4. the work performed by a
surgeon; see also
operation and
procedure. adj.,
adj sur´gical.
ambulatory surgery any operative procedure not requiring an overnight stay in the hospital; it must be carefully planned to ensure that all necessary diagnostic tests are completed prior to admission. Discharge instructions must place a high priority on patient safety. Called also
day surgery.
bench surgery surgery performed on an organ that has been removed from the body, after which it is reimplanted.
minimal access surgery (minimally invasive surgery) a surgical procedure done in a manner that causes little or no trauma or injury to the patient, such as through a cannula using lasers, endoscopes, or laparoscopes; compared with other procedures, those in this category involve less bleeding, smaller amounts of anesthesia, less pain, and minimal scarring.
open heart surgery surgery that involves incision into one or more chambers of the heart, such as for repair or palliation of congenital heart defects, repair or replacement of defective heart valves, or
coronary artery bypass.
oral and maxillofacial surgery that branch of dental practice that deals with the diagnosis and the surgical and adjunctive treatment of diseases, injuries, and defects of the human mouth and dental structures. Called also
maxillofacial or
oral surgery. stereotaxic surgery the production of sharply localized lesions in the brain after precise localization of the target tissue by use of three-dimensional coordinates.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.