Category: Blog

Stages in a surgery

A surgery is takes place in a specialized room called the operation theater. Nowadays, almost all hospitals are equipped with at least one such room. The environment in which a surgery takes place must be sterilized and any kind of contamination must be avoided. This is the reason why surgical instruments must are always sterilized and even the participants in the operation are dressed in specialized attire. These principles are those of the asceptic technique.

Certain numbers of tests are conducted prior to the surgery to minimize or erase the risk of any complications arising out of surgery. For instance if it is found out that the surgery can cause immense blood loss, blood transfusion is arranged for; if it is a gastro-intestinal surgery, the patient is given a bowel-prep solution. Some surgeries call for a pre-op X-ray to avoid an kind of unknown abnormality that might negatively affect the surgical procedure.

When taken to the operation theater, the patient is changed into sterile clothing, antiseptics are applied in the concerned area and if there is hair in that region it is done away with. Anesthesia is given to the patient. There are two forms of anesthesia : local and regular. In the former, the sensation in the concerned area deadened for the procedure whereas in the latter the patient is driven unconscious and rendered paralyzed for the surgery.

The surgical procedure itself is vast employing a ton of methodologies like incision, which is the initial step, ligation, grafts, resection, transplant, athrodesis, etc. During the post-op period, the patient is kept in check for signs of side-effects or complications that are might arise. Infections are the most likely occurrences. Sometimes abscesses can also occur if surgical drains are left for long in the affected area. Sometimes movements can also exert pressure on the stitches and lead to excess blood loss, which must be catered to.

The different types of surgeries 

Time-based surgeries: These can be further divided into 3 categories- elective, semi-elective and emergency surgery. An elective surgery is conducted to cater to a non-life threatening condition and is done at consent of the patient and the availability of the surgeon and the respective facility. A semi-elective is one that can be delayed for a later point of time but not too long as it may then cause a loss of life or limb. An emergency surgery is one that must be conducted immediately to save life, body parts or functionality.

Body-parts: Some surgeries draw their identity from the area on which it is being conducted, to simplify further, the organs or tissues. For example, those to do with the heart falls under the realm of cardiac surgery, hepatology for liver, orthopedic for bones and so on.

Based on invasiveness: Based on the magnitude of incision in order to get access to the concerned area. Some surgeries require large incisions as in the cases of open-heart surgeries whereas some, like in angioplasties work by introducing small instruments through small outer incisions.

Equipment-based: Different surgeries call for different equipments. Lasers can be used to cut tissues, burn tumors; scalpel is the conventional surgical equipment. Nowadays robotic hands are also used in surgery, directed by a surgeon. The Zeus surgical system is an example of the latter.