List of surgical procedures

Surgical procedures have long and possibly daunting names. Many have been mentioned on such medical drama shows as ER, or the TLC Networkshow, Trauma: Life in the ER. The meaning of many surgical procedure names can often be understood if the name is broken into parts. For example in splenectomy, "ectomy" is a suffixmeaning the removal of a part of the body. "Splene-" means spleen. Thus, splenectomy refers to the surgical removal of the spleen (or sections thereof). "otomy" means to cut into a part of the body; a splenotomy would be to cut into, but not necessarily remove, the spleen.

The field of minimally invasive surgery has spawned another set of words, such as arthroscopic or laparoscopic surgery. These take the same form as above; an arthroscope is a device which allows the inside of the joint to be seen.

List of surgical term roots

Prefixes

• angio- : related to blood vessels
• arthr- : related to a joint
• bi- : two
• encephal- : related to the brain
• hepat- : related to the liver
• hyster- : related to the uterus
• lapar- : related to the abdominalcavity
• lobo- : related to a lobe (of the brainor lungs)
• mammo- and masto-: related to the breast
• nephro- : related to the kidney
• oophor- : related to the ovary
• orchid- : related to the testicle
• vas- : related to the vas deferens

Suffixes

• -centesis: surgical puncture
• -desis : fusion of two parts into one, stabilization
• -ectomy: surgical removal (see List of -ectomies). The term 'resection' is also used, especially when referring to a tumor.
• -oid : similar to
• -opsy : looking at
• -ostomy or -stomy: surgically creating a hole (a new "mouth" or "stoma")
• -otomy or -tomy: surgical incision (see List of -otomies)
• -plasty : replacement
• -rrhapy: suture

List of surgical procedures

• Abdominal surgery
• Abdominoplasty
• Adenoidectomy
• Amputation
• Angioplasty
• Appendicectomy(also Appendectomy)
• Arthrodesis
• Arthroplasty
• Arthroscopy
• Bilateral cingulotomy
• Biopsy
• Brain surgery (see Neurosurgery)
• Breast biopsy
• Cauterization
• Cesarean section
• Cholecystectomy
• Circumcision
• Clitoridectomy
• Colon resection
• Colostomy
• Commissurotomy
• Cordotomy
• Corneal transplantation
• Cricothoracotomy
• Discectomy
• Diverticulectomy
• Encephalectomy
• Episiotomy
• Foreskin restoration
• Fistulotomy
• Frontalis lift
• Fundectomy
• Gastrectomy
• Grafting
• Heart transplantation
• Hemorrhoidectomy
• Hepatectomy
• Hernia repair
• Hysterectomy
• Kidney transplantation
• Laminectomy
• Laparoscopy
• Laparotomy
• Laryngectomy
• Lithotripsy
• Lobotomy
• Lung transplantation
• Mammectomy
• Mammoplasty
• Mastectomy
• Mastoidectomy
• Mentoplasty
• Myotomy
• Nephrectomy
• Nissen fundoplication
• Oophorectomy
• Orchidectomy
• Parathyroidectomy
• Penectomy(also known as peotomy)
• Pneumotomy
• Psychosurgery
• Radiosurgery
• Ritidoplasty
• Sigmoidostomy
• Sphincterotomy
• Splenectomy
• Stapedectomy
• Thoracotomy
• Thyroidectomy
• Tonsillectomy
• Tracheotomy
• Tracheostomy
• Tubal ligation
• Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction
• Ureterosigmoidostomy
• Vasectomy
• Vivisection

External links

• "In medicine, what's the difference between an -ectomy, an -ostomy, and an -otomy?" at The Straight Dope
• Medical suffixes

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List+of+surgical+procedures Wikipedia article List of surgical procedures.