Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pathological condition such as a disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance or to repair unwanted ruptured areas. The act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply surgery. In this context, the verb operate means to perform surgery. The adjective surgical means pertaining to surgery; e.g. surgical instruments or surgical nurse. The person or subject on which the surgery is performed can be a person or an animal. A surgeon is a person who practices surgery and a surgeon's assistant is a person who practices surgical assistance. A surgical team is made up of surgeon, surgeon's assistant, anaesthetist, circulating nurse and surgical technologist. Surgery usually spans minutes to hours, but it is typically not an ongoing or periodic type of treatment. The term surgery can also refer to the place where surgery is performed, or, in British English, simply the office of a physician, dentist, or veterinarian.
Se denomina cirugía (del griego χείρ, jeir, mano, y ἔργον, érgon, trabajo, de donde χειρουργεία, jeirourguéia, trabajo manual) a la práctica que implica la manipulación mecánica de las estructuras anatómicas con un fin médico, bien sea diagnóstico, terapéutico o pronóstico. De acuerdo con la Organización Mundial de la Salud (2012), una es todo procedimiento realizado en el quirófano, que comporte la incisión, la manipulación y/o la sutura de un tejido, y que generalmente requiere anestesia regional, o anestesia general, o anestesia raquídea, o profunda, para así controlar el dolor.