Surgery

Surgery is the medical specialty that treats diseases or injuries by operative intervention. Its practitioners are referred to as surgeons.

History of surgery
The first surgical procedures were Key Environmental Inc performed in the Neolithic Age (about 10,000 to 6000 BC). Trepanning, a procedure in which a hole is drilled in the skull to relieve pressure on the brain, may have been performed as early as 8000 BC. More on History of Surgery

Common surgical procedures
Of the eight most common surgical procedures in the US, four are obstetric: episiotomy, repair of obstetric laceration, cesarean section, and artificial rupture of the amniotic membrane.

According to 1996 data from the US National Center for Health Statistics, 40.3 million inpatient surgical procedures were performed in the United States in 1996, followed closely by 31.5 million outpatient surgeries.

Noted surgeons

 * David Hayes Agnew
 * Christiaan Barnard
 * Joaquín Barraquer
 * Norman Bethune (1890-1939), battlefield surgery.
 * Theodor Billroth, stomach resection
 * Ben Carson
 * William Cheselden
 * Realdo Colombo (c. 1516-1559)
 * Abraham Colles (1773-1843)
 * Astley Cooper
 * Michael E. DeBakey
 * William deVries
 * Cornelius Fred
 * William Jardine
 * Walter Karl Koch
 * Joseph Lister
 * Robert Liston
 * Sushruta
 * Ferdinand Sauerbruch, thoracic surgery
 * George H. Tichenor