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A surgeon operating

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'General surgery,' despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on surgical treatment of abdominal organs, e.g. intestines including esophagus, stomach, colon, liver, gallbladder and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland (depending on the availability of head and neck surgery specialists) and hernias.

Contents

Scope

Breast disease

Trauma

Trends

Training

Subspecialization

References

See also

External links

Scope

Breast disease

In Australia, Canada, the US and the UK, general surgeons are responsible for breast care, including the surgical treatment of breast cancer. In most other countries, breast care falls under Obstetrics and Gynecology and its sub-specialty of Mastology (or Senology).

Trauma

In the United States, the overall responsibility for trauma care falls under the auspices of general surgery, some general surgeons obtaining advanced training and specialty certification in this field alone.

Trends

In the last few years minimally invasive surgery has become more prevalent. Considerable enthusiasm has built around robotic surgery (also known as ''robotic-assisted surgery''), despite a lack of data suggesting it has significant benefits that justify its cost.^[1]

Training

In Canada and the United States general surgery is a five-year residency and follows completion of medical school. Following high school, it takes approximately thirteen years to make a fully licensed general surgeon (four years undergraduate training, four years medical school and five years residency).

Subspecialization

In many countries general surgery is a prerequiste for subspecialization in:

★ vascular surgery,

★ thoracic surgery and

★ cardiac surgery.

References

1. Gastrointestinal robot-assisted surgery. A current perspective, Lunca S, Bouras G, Stanescu AC, , , Romanian journal of gastroenterology, 2005

See also

★ Surgery

★ Abdominal surgery

★ Surgeon

★ Physician

★ Traumatology

External links

★ Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland

★ American Society of General Surgeons

★ Careers in Surgery - Association of American Medical Colleges.
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