English > surgery: 4 senses > noun 4, act| Meaning | A medical procedure involving an incision with instruments; performed to repair damage or arrest disease in a living body. |
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| Example | "he died while undergoing surgery" |
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| Synonyms | operation, surgical operation, surgical procedure, surgical process |
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| Category of | ablate | Remove an organ or bodily structure |
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| decorticate | Remove the cortex / cortex of (an organ) |
| freeze | Anesthetize by cold |
| hypophysectomize, hypophysectomise | Remove the pituitary glands |
| suction | Empty or clean (a body cavity) by the force of suction |
| trepan | cut a hole with a trepan, as in surgery |
| Category | surgery | The branch of medical science that treats disease or injury by operative procedures |
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| Parts | hemostasis, haemostasis, hemostasia, haemostasia | surgical procedure of stopping the flow of blood (as with a hemostat) |
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| incision, section, surgical incision | The cutting of or into body tissues or organs (especially by a surgeon as part of an operation) |
| suturing | Surgical joining of two surfaces |
| Narrower | Shirodkar's operation, purse-string operation | A surgical procedure in which a suture is used to close the cervix in a pregnant woman |
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| ablation, extirpation, cutting out, excision | Surgical removal of a body part or tissue |
| amputation | A surgical removal of all or part of a limb |
| angioplasty | An operation to repair a damaged blood vessel or unblock a coronary artery |
| arthroplasty | Surgical reconstruction or replacement / replacement of a malformed or degenerated joint |
| arthroscopy | A minimally invasive operation to repair a damaged joint |
| brain surgery | Any surgical procedure involving the brain |
| castration | Surgical removal of the testes or ovaries (usually to inhibit hormone secretion in cases of breast cancer in women or prostate cancer in men) |
| catheterization, catheterisation | The operation of introducing a catheter into the body |
| cautery, cauterization, cauterisation | The act of coagulating blood and destroying tissue with a hot iron or caustic agent or by freezing |
| chemosurgery | Use of chemical to destroy diseased or malignant tissue |
| craniotomy | A surgical opening / opening through the skull |
| cryosurgery | The use of extreme / extreme cold (usually liquid nitrogen) to destroy unwanted tissue (warts or cataracts or skin cancers) |
| curettage, curettement | surgery to remove tissue or growths from a bodily cavity (as the uterus) by scraping with a curette |
| debridement | Surgical removal of foreign / foreign material and dead tissue from a wound in order to prevent infection and promote healing |
| decortication | removal of the outer covering of an organ or part |
| dilation and curettage, dilatation and curettage, D and C | A surgical procedure usually performed under local anesthesia in which the cervix is dilated and the endometrial lining of the uterus is scraped with a curet |
| electrosurgery | surgery performed with electrical devices (as in electrocautery) |
| enterostomy, enterotomy | surgical operation that creates a permanent opening through the abdominal wall into the intestine |
| enucleation | Surgical removal of something without cutting into it |
| evisceration | Surgical removal of an organ (or the contents of an organ) from a patient |
| exenteration | Surgical removal of the organs within a body cavity (as those of the pelvis) |
| eye operation, eye surgery | Any surgical procedure involving the eyes |
| fenestration | surgical procedure that creates a new fenestra to the cochlea in order to restore hearing lost because of osteosclerosis |
| gastrectomy | Surgical removal of all or part of the stomach |
| gastroenterostomy | Surgical creation of an opening between the stomach wall / wall and the small intestines |
| gastrostomy | Surgical creation of an opening through the abdominal wall into the stomach (as for gastrogavage) |
| heart surgery | Any surgical procedure involving the heart |
| hemorrhoidectomy, haemorrhoidectomy | surgical procedure for tying hemorrhoids and excising them |
| hysterotomy | surgical incision into the uterus (as in cesarean section) |
| implantation | A surgical procedure that places something in the human body |
| intestinal bypass | surgical operation that shortens the small intestine |
| jejunostomy | Surgical creation of an opening between the jejunum and the anterior abdominal wall |
| major surgery | Any surgical procedure that involves anesthesia or respiratory assistance |
| microsurgery | surgery using operating microscopes and miniaturized precision instruments to perform intricate procedures on very small structures |
| minor surgery | Any surgical procedure that does not involve anesthesia or respiratory assistance |
| myotomy | surgical incision or division of a muscle |
| myringectomy | Surgical removal of the eardrum |
| myringoplasty | Surgical repair of a perforated eardrum with a tissue graft |
| myringotomy | surgical incision into the eardrum (to relieve pressure or release pus from the middle ear) |
| neurosurgery | Any surgery that involves the nervous system (brain or spinal cord or peripheral nerves) |
| orchiopexy | operation to bring an undescended testicle into the scrotum |
| osteotomy | Surgical sectioning of bone |
| ostomy | surgical procedure that creates an artificial opening for the elimination of bodily wastes |
| palatopharyngoplasty, PPP, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty, UPPP | Surgical resection of unnecessary palatal and oropharyngeal tissue to open the airway |
| phlebectomy | Surgical removal or all or part of a vein |
| photocoagulation | surgical procedure that uses an intense laser beam to destroy diseased retinal tissue or to make a scar that will hold the retina in cases of detached retina |
| plastic surgery, reconstructive surgery, anaplasty | surgery concerned with therapeutic or cosmetic reformation of tissue |
| polypectomy | Surgical removal of a polyp |
| resection | Surgical removal of part of a structure or organ |
| rhinotomy | surgical procedure in which an incision is made in the nose to drain accumulated pus |
| rhizotomy | surgical procedure in which spinal nerve roots are cut |
| sex-change operation, transsexual surgery | surgical procedures and hormonal treatments designed to alter a person's sexual characteristics so that the resemble those of the opposite sex |
| sterilization, sterilisation | The act of making an organism barren or infertile (unable to reproduce) |
| strabotomy | The surgical operation of cutting a muscle or tendon of the eye in order to correct strabismus |
| taxis | The surgical procedure of manually restoring a displaced body part |
| tracheostomy, tracheotomy | A surgical operation that creates an opening into the trachea with a tube inserted to provide a passage for air |
| transplant, transplantation, organ transplant | An operation moving an organ from one organism (the donor) to another (the recipient) |
| trephination | An operation that removes a circular section of bone from the skull |
| tympanoplasty | Surgical correction or repair of defects or injuries in the eardrum or the bones of the middle ear |
| uranoplasty | Surgical correction of a defect of the palate |
| vasovasostomy | A surgical procedure that attempts to restore the function of the vas deferens after a vasectomy |
| vivisection | The act of operating on living animals (especially in scientific research) |
| wrong-site surgery | A surgical operation performed on the wrong part of the body |
| Broader | medical procedure | A procedure employed by medical or dental practitioners |
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| Spanish | cirugía, intervención, operación, procedimiento quirúrgico |
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| Catalan | cirurgia, intervenció, intervenció quirúrgica, operació, operació quirúrgica |
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| Adjectives | nonsurgical | not surgical |
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| surgical | relating to or requiring or amenable to treatment by surgery especially as opposed to medicine |
| surgical | of or relating to or involving or used in surgery |
