General
surgery is a broad surgical specialty that specializes in the treatment of
disease, injury, and deformity by means of operation or surgical procedure.
This field is specialized to manage the comprehensive surgical problems of the
alimentary tract, gastrointestinal system (stomach, intestines, liver,
gallbladder, appendix, rectum), endocrine system (thyroid, parathyroid,
pancreas, adrenal), skin and soft tissues, hernias, breast and comprehensive
care of trauma and critical care. It involves the diagnosis, preoperative,
operative and postoperative management.
Normally, a general surgery is performed when a disease or an injury cannot be
treated with medications. The field covers a very wide range of surgical
procedures. Minor surgical procedures are done on a routine basis in an
outpatient setting with simple surgical instruments. But in the case of
complicated operations, surgery is performed by a medical team using
complicated surgical equipment in an operation theatre of the health care
facility.
The
doctors specializing general surgery are called ‘general surgeons.’ A surgeon
should have a basic knowledge in surgical endocrinology, immunology, organ
transplantation and oncology. To practice as a general surgeon, a four to five
residency training program in general surgery is required. In addition, after
residency, surgeons can opt for formal fellowship programs in trauma and
critical care, hepatobiliary and transplantation, head and neck oncology,
endocrine surgery, colorectal surgery, surgical oncology, thoracic surgery,
vascular surgery, minimally invasive surgery, and pediatric surgery.
General
surgery is a wide subject and diverse in nature. It incorporates almost all
specialties in medicine. This field forms a basis in medical teaching for all
other specialized surgical procedures. Therefore, all other specialized
surgical procedures are the subsets of general surgery. The area of general
surgery is dynamic and ever-changing. With the introduction of endoscope and
practice of laparoscopic surgery using minimally invasive methods, scope of
general surgery has got wider importance. Using endoscope, a general surgeon
can visualize the internal organs of a body. Thereby, he can perform surgery
with small instruments through tiny incisions. It has advantages over
traditional open surgical procedures.
