Surgery

When looking at operative surgery, it is imperative that surgeons as well as general practitioners are familiar with the essential principles of surgical techniques that include anesthesia, asepsis/ infection control, postoperative wound management and blood transfusions. Options for anesthetic techniques are not limited to local anesthesia, regional nerve block, epidural and spinal anesthesia, intravenous sedation/ analgesia and general anesthesia.

Basic surgical techniques cover incision techniques, principles of hemostasis as well as suturing and surgical repair. Other forms of operative surgery are minimal access surgery (laparoscopic surgery and diagnostic laparoscopy) as well as minor operative procedures (local anesthesia and biopsy techniques) and transplantation surgery.
Cancer accounts for a major part of surgical work. The ideal outcome of cancer surgery is the complete removal of the malignant disease.

In the instance that metastases are confined to local lymph nodes, the nodes are excised along with the primary tumor or later on in a secondary operation. On the other side, even if there are incurable metastases, surgical removal of the primary lesion is often necessary to relive the local effects of the tumor. In addition, palliative surgery may be needed for locally advanced or metastatic disease to deal with specific distressing symptoms; for example in the case of acute bowel obstruction or severe hemorrhage from a bladder tumor.