Elective surgery or elective procedure is

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

that is scheduled in advance because it does not involve a

medical emergency A medical emergency is an acute injury or illness that poses an immediate risk to a person's life or long-term health, sometimes referred to as a situation risking "life or limb". These emergencies may require assistance from another, qualified ...

. Semi-elective surgery is a surgery that must be done to preserve the patient's life, but does not need to be performed immediately. Most surgeries are elective, scheduled at a time to suit the surgeon, hospital, and patient. By contrast, an urgent surgery is one that can wait until the patient is medically stable, but should generally be done within 2 days, and an

emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

surgery is one that must be performed without delay; the patient has no choice other than immediate surgery if permanent disability or death is to be avoided. Many surgeries can be performed as either elective or emergency surgeries, depending on the patient's needs.

Description

An elective surgery or elective procedure (from the , meaning to choose) is a

that does not involve a

and is scheduled in advance. Semi-elective surgery is a surgery that must be done to preserve the patient's life, but does not need to be performed immediately.

Types

Elective

Most surgical medical treatments are elective, that is, scheduled at a time to suit the surgeon, hospital, and patient. These include inguinal hernia surgery,

cataract surgery Cataract surgery, also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens (anatomy), lens of the human eye, eye that has developed a cataract, an opaque or cloudy area. The eye's natural lens is usually replaced with an artific ...

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer choose to have ...

for breast cancer, and the donation of a kidney by a living donor. Elective surgeries include all optional surgeries performed for non-medical reasons. This includes cosmetic surgery, such as facelifts, breast implants, liposuction, and breast reduction, which aim to subjectively improve a patient's physical appearance. Another optional surgery is

LASIK LASIK or Lasik (; "laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis"), commonly referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASIK surgery is p ...

—currently the top elective surgery in the United States—where a patient weighs the risks against increased quality of life expectations.

Semi-elective

When a condition is worsening but has not yet reached the point of a true emergency, surgeons speak of ''semi-elective surgery'': the problem must be dealt with, but a brief delay is not expected to affect the outcome. Semi-elective procedures are typically scheduled within a time frame deemed appropriate for the patient's condition and disease. Removal of a

malignancy Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse; the term is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not ...

, for example, is usually scheduled as semi-elective surgery, to be performed within a set number of days or weeks.

Urgency

In a patient with multiple medical conditions, problems classified as needing semi-elective surgeries may be postponed until emergent conditions have been addressed and the patient is medically stable. For example, whenever possible, pregnant women typically postpone all elective and semi-elective procedures until after giving birth. In some situations, an urgently needed surgery will be postponed briefly to permit even more urgent conditions to be addressed. In other situations, emergency surgery may be performed at the same time as life-saving

resuscitation Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an Acute (medicine), acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emerg ...

efforts. Many surgeries can be performed as either elective or emergency surgeries, depending on the patient's needs. A sudden worsening of gallbladder disease may require immediate removal of the gallbladder by emergency surgery, but this surgery is more commonly scheduled in advance. An

appendectomy An appendectomy (American English) or appendicectomy (British English) is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedur ...

is considered emergency surgery, but depending upon how early the diagnosis was made, the patient may have more time before the appendix risks rupturing or the infection spreads. Also, in certain emergency conditions, even ones like a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

, surgery may or may not need to be utilized.

Best practices

Preoperative carbohydrates may decrease amount of time spent in hospital recovering.

Non-elective surgery

Non-elective surgeries may be classified as ''urgent'' or ''emergency''. An urgent surgery is one that can wait until the patient is medically stable, but should generally be done within 2 days. An

surgery is one that must be performed without delay; the patient has no choice other than immediate surgery if permanent disability or death is to be avoided. Urgent surgery is typically performed with 48 hours of diagnosis and emergency surgery is performed as soon as a surgeon is available. A

trauma center A trauma center, or trauma centre, is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. The term "trauma center" may be used incorr ...

is a hospital which supports emergency surgery on critically ill patients at the brink of death by ensuring that on a 24/7 basis, a surgeon is always on the premises (or "in-house") to evaluate patients and can take them immediately to the operating room.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Medical terminology Surgery