Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nervous system, and cerebrovascular system. Neurosurgery as a medical specialty also includes non-surgical management of some neurological conditions.
Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions, to alter bodily functions, to reconstruct or alter aesthetics and appearance, or to remove unwanted tissues or foreign bodies.
Laparoscopy is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.
Tonsillectomy is a surgical procedure in which both palatine tonsils are fully removed from the back of the throat. The procedure is mainly performed for recurrent tonsillitis, throat infections and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). For those with frequent throat infections, surgery results in 0.6 fewer sore throats in the following year, but there is no evidence of long term benefits. In children with OSA, it results in improved quality of life.
Forceps are a handheld, hinged instrument used for grasping and holding objects. Forceps are used when fingers are too large to grasp small objects or when many objects need to be held at one time while the hands are used to perform a task. The term "forceps" is used almost exclusively in the fields of biology and medicine. Outside biology and medicine, people usually refer to forceps as tweezers, tongs, pliers, clips or clamps.
A surgical instrument is a medical device for performing specific actions or carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access for viewing it. Over time, many different kinds of surgical instruments and tools have been invented. Some surgical instruments are designed for general use in all sorts of surgeries, while others are designed for only certain specialties or specific procedures.
Louis Hubert Farabeuf (1841–1910), French surgeon who is said to have introduced hygiene in French medical schools. His statue dominates the central court of the National School of Medicine in Paris whose main amphitheater is also named after him. Farabeuf wrote some short surgical booklets (précis) and designed several medical instruments that are still in use today.
There are many different surgical specialties, some of which require specific kinds of surgical instruments to perform.
Dental instruments are tools that dental professionals use to provide dental treatment. They include tools to examine, manipulate, treat, restore, and remove teeth and surrounding oral structures.
A bone cutter is a surgical instrument used to cut or remove bones. In addition to surgery, they are also used in forensics and dismemberment.
The following is a list of instruments that are used in modern obstetrics and gynaecology.
A rib spreader, also known as Finochietto retractor, is a type of retractor specifically designed to separate ribs in thoracic surgery. Rack-and-pinion-type stainless steel rib spreaders were an innovation introduced by French surgeon Theodore Truffier in 1914. This was modified in 1936 by Argentinian surgeon Enrique Finochietto to have fenestrated blades and a hand-cranked lever to both separate the arms in a staged fashion and lock them in place at each stop. The Burford–Finochietto rib spreader has replaceable blades. The Tuffier and especially the Burford–Finochietto are ubiquitous in open thoracic surgery. Recently, a new intelligent, automated rib spreader in development demonstrated results superior to the Finochietto-style retractors.
Alfred Washington Adson was an American physician, military officer, and surgeon. He was in medical practice with the Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Minnesota at Rochester, Minnesota. He was associated with the development of the Section of Neurological Surgery which was first established at Mayo in 1919. He functioned as its chair until 1946. He undertook pioneering neurosurgery and gave his name to a medical condition, a medical sign, a medical diagnostic manoeuvre, and medical instruments.
Franz Weitlaner was an Austrian physician who is known for designing the self-retaining retractor bearing his name.
A surgical incision is a cut made through the skin and soft tissue to facilitate an operation or procedure. Often, multiple incisions are possible for an operation. In general, a surgical incision is made as small and unobtrusive as possible to facilitate safe and timely operating conditions and recovery.
A cranial drill, also known as a craniotome, is a tool for drilling simple burr holes (trepanation) or for creating larger openings in the skull. This exposes the brain and allows operations like craniotomy and craniectomy to be done. The drill itself can be manually or electrically driven, and primarily consists of a handpiece and a drill bit which is a sharp tool that has a form similar to Archimedes' screw, this instrument must be inserted into the drill chuck to perform holes and remove materials. The trepanation tool is generally equipped with a clutch which automatically disengages once it touches a softer tissue, thus preventing tears in the dura mater. For larger openings, the craniotome is an instrument that has replaced manually pulled saw wires in craniotomies from the 1980s.
Coblation tonsillectomy is a surgical procedure in which the patient's tonsils are removed by destroying the surrounding tissues that attach them to the pharynx. It was first implemented in 2001. The word coblation is short for ‘controlled ablation’, which means a controlled procedure used to destroy soft tissue.
John Blair Deaver was an American surgeon, the chief of surgery at the German Hospital in Philadelphia.
Ancient Roman surgical practices developed from Greek techniques. Roman surgeons and doctors usually learned through apprenticeships or studying. Ancient Roman doctors such as Galen and Celsus described Roman surgical techniques in their medical literature, such as De Medicina. These methods encompassed modern oral surgery, cosmetic surgery, sutures, ligatures, amputations, tonsillectomies, mastectomies, cataract surgeries, lithotomies, hernia repair, gynecology, neurosurgery, and others. Surgery was a rare practice, as it was dangerous and often had fatal results. To perform these procedures, they used tools such as specula, catheters, enemas, bone levers, osteotomes, phlebotomes, probes, curettes, bone drills, bone forceps, cupping vessels, knives, scalpels, scissors, and spathas.
