Also called: Operation
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Surgery
There are many reasons to have surgery. Some operations can relieve or prevent pain. Others can reduce a symptom of a problem or improve some body function. Some surgeries are done to find a problem. For example, a surgeon may do a biopsy, which involves removing a piece of tissue to examine under a microscope. Some surgeries, like heart surgery, can save your life.
Some operations that once needed large incisions (cuts in the body) can now be done using much smaller cuts. This is called laparoscopic surgery. Surgeons insert a thin tube with a camera to see, and use small tools to do the surgery.
After surgery there can be a risk of complications, including infection, too much bleeding, reaction to anesthesia, or accidental injury. There is almost always some pain with surgery.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
It sits within Surgery and Rehabilitation.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Surgery
41,164 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Safety and Efficacy of OTL78 (Zopocianine)Clinton Bahler
- Physician/Patient Choice of Either High-Dose Recombinant Interferon Alfa-2B or Ipilimumab, Versus Pembrolizumab in Treating Patients With Stage III-IV High Risk Melanoma That Has Been Removed by SurgeryNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
- Comparison of Postoperative Analgesic Efficacy of Two Different Blocks in Modified Radical Mastectomy SurgerySultan Abdulhamid Han Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
- Evaluation Of Cost-Effectiveness Of Iliac Branch EndoprosthesesProf. Andrea Kahlberg
- A Trial of Robotic Versus Open Hysterectomy Surgery in Cervix CancerGOG Foundation
- Suzetrigine in Total Hip ArthroplastyHospital for Special Surgery, New York
Research already completed
- Arthroscopic Infrapatellar Fat Pad Release and Mesenchymal Stem Cell MobilizationAnkara City Hospital Bilkent
- Cyclophosphamide, Paclitaxel, and Trastuzumab in Treating Stage I-II HER2/Neu Positive Breast Cancer After SurgeryUniversity of Nebraska
- Preliminary Evaluation of a Large Language Model-Based Tool for Complex Surgical Decision Support in Lung CancerPeking University People's Hospital
- The Effect of Dexamethasone Administration Route in Pediatric Brachial Plexus BlockPoznan University of Medical Sciences
- Tissue Adhesive vs Silk Sutures After Mandibular Third Molar ExtractionUniversity of Turin, Italy
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Preparing for SurgeryAmerican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- SurgeryMerck & Co., Inc.
- What Are the Surgical Specialties?American College of Surgeons
Related Issues
- Computer-Assisted Surgical SystemsFood and Drug Administration
Statistics and Research
- Science EducationNational Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: General SurgeryNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Surgical Procedures, Operative. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Surgery, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.