Comprehensive General Surgery & Surgical Specialties Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from general surgery, trauma, urology, breast, endocrine, and vascular surgery notes.

Day/Same-day Surgery

Surgical care where the patient is admitted and discharged within 12 hours.

ERAS Protocol

Enhanced recovery after surgery protocol designed to optimize perioperative care, including avoiding mechanical bowel preparation, carbohydrate loading up to 2 hours pre-op, and early post-op ambulation.

Lithotomy Position

Surgical positioning commonly used for obstetric, gynaecological, and urological procedures, carrying a risk of common peroneal nerve injury if legs are not properly supported.

Blade No. 12

A curved surgical blade primarily used for suture removal.

Harmonic Scalpel

An ultrasonic surgical instrument ($20,000\text{--}50,000\,\text{Hz}$ oscillation) that cuts and coagulates tissue precisely without heat production.

Subcuticular Suturing

A cosmetic skin closure technique placed below the epidermal layer, typically using Monocryl suture material.

Swaged Needle

A surgical needle where the thread is attached directly into the end of the needle shaft; held at 1/3rd from the swaged end and 2/3rds from the pointed end.

Burst Abdomen

Acute postoperative abdominal wound dehiscence where the rectus sheath opens up, classically presenting with the serous/salmon fluid sign on post-op day 6.

Non-Pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG)

A lower-body counter-pressure garment used in hemorrhagic shock and pelvic fracture stabilization to maintain central perfusion.

Ryle's Tube Measurement

Method to estimate nasogastric tube insertion length by measuring from the xiphisternum to the earlobe and then to the tip of the nose.

Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC Line)

A central venous line inserted through a peripheral vein in the arm, positioned with its tip in the superior vena cava just above the right atrium.

Refeeding Syndrome

A life-threatening metabolic complication resulting from rapid reintroduction of nutrition in chronically malnourished patients, driven primarily by severe hypophosphatemia.

TRALI

Transfusion Related Acute Lung Injury; non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema caused by donor antibodies against recipient HLA antigens occurring within 6 hours of blood transfusion.

Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA)

A bedside scoring tool assessing respiratory rate ($\ge 22\,\text{breaths/min}$), altered mentation, and systolic blood pressure ($\le 100\,\text{mmHg}$) to identify septic patients at high risk of deterioration.

Peau d'orange

Cutaneous dimpling and edema of the breast skin resembling an orange peel, caused by obstruction of subdermal lymphatics by tumor cells (T4b disease).

Triple Assessment

The diagnostic standard for breast disorders consisting of clinical examination, radiological imaging (USG or mammography), and histopathological core needle biopsy.

Stewart-Treves Syndrome

Development of angiosarcoma in the setting of severe, long-standing chronic lymphedema, classically after radical mastectomy.

Berry's Ligament

A condensation of pre-tracheal fascia attaching the thyroid gland to the cricoid cartilage and upper tracheal rings, adjacent to which the recurrent laryngeal nerve is vulnerable to injury.

Orphan Annie Eye Nuclei

Optically clear, ground-glass nuclear inclusions pathognomonic for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma on histopathological examination.

Sistrunk Surgery

Surgical procedure for thyroglossal cyst removal involving excision of the cyst, the central portion of the hyoid bone, and a core of tissue up to the base of the tongue.

Pemberton Sign

Facial congestion and cyanosis produced upon raising both arms above the head, indicating superior vena cava or thoracic inlet compression by a retrosternal goitre.

Plummer-Vinson Syndrome

A condition characterized by iron deficiency anemia, angular stomatitis, glossitis, and post-cricoid esophageal webs, predisposing to upper esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Modified Schoebinger's Incision

A surgical skin incision utilized for modified radical neck dissection (MRND) in oral cancer surgery.

Frey's Syndrome

Post-parotidectomy gustatory sweating caused by aberrant regeneration of severed parasympathetic auriculotemporal nerve fibers to sympathetic cutaneous sweat glands.

Boerhaave Syndrome

Spontaneous transmural rupture of the esophagus caused by sudden increased intra-esophageal pressure during forceful vomiting, presenting with Mackler's triad.

Achalasia Cardia

An esophageal motility disorder marked by loss of myenteric plexus ganglion cells leading to uncoordinated peristalsis and failure of the lower esophageal sphincter to relax.

Graham's Omental Patch Repair

Surgical repair of a perforated peptic ulcer using a pedicle of vascularized greater omentum secured over the defect.

Sister Mary Joseph Nodule

A palpable metastatic periumbilical nodule arising from an intra-abdominal or pelvic malignancy, most commonly gastric or ovarian cancer.

Sengstaken-Blakemore Tube

A multi-lumen balloon tube used for temporary mechanical compression of acutely bleeding esophageal and gastric varices.

Coffee Bean Sign

Classic plain abdominal X-ray finding in Sigmoid Volvulus showing a massively distended, U-shaped loop of large bowel rising out of the pelvis.

Meckel's Diverticulum

A congenital true diverticulum located on the antimesenteric border of the distal ileum due to incomplete obliteration of the vitellointestinal duct.

Goodsall's Rule

A anatomical predictive guide for perianal fistulae stating that external openings anterior to the transverse anal line track directly, whereas posterior openings curve to the posterior midline.

Critical View of Safety

Identification standard during laparoscopic cholecystectomy requiring clearance of Calot's triangle, visualization of the lower cystic plate, and identification of exactly two entering structures.

Cullen's Sign

Periumbilical ecchymosis caused by intraperitoneal or retroperitoneal hemorrhage, classically associated with acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis.

Courvoisier's Law

Clinical observation stating that in the presence of obstructive jaundice, a palpably enlarged gallbladder is rarely caused by gallstones, but rather by malignant obstruction.

Horseshoe Kidney

Congenital renal fusion anomaly where lower poles of both kidneys are fused across the midline, trapped beneath the inferior mesenteric artery during embryonic ascent.

Staghorn Calculus

A large branched renal stone composed of magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite) filling the renal pelvis and calyces, associated with urease-producing UTI organisms.

TURP Syndrome

Severe dilutional hyponatremia and hypervolemia resulting from systemic absorption of non-conductive hypotonic irrigation fluid during transurethral resection of the prostate.

Pringle's Manoeuvre

Surgical clamping of the hepatoduodenal ligament to occlude the portal vein and hepatic artery, used to evaluate or control hepatic hemorrhage.

Flail Chest

Fracture of two or more contiguous ribs in two or more places, creating an unstable chest wall segment that exhibits paradoxical movement during respiration.

Beck's Triad

The diagnostic clinical triad of cardiac tamponade consisting of hypotension, jugular venous distension, and muffled heart sounds.

Hesselbach's Triangle

Anatomical region in the lower anterior abdominal wall bounded laterally by inferior epigastric vessels, medially by rectus abdominis, and inferiorly by the inguinal ligament; the site of direct inguinal hernias.

Bochdalek Hernia

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia occurring through a posterolateral defect (most commonly left-sided) due to incomplete pleuroperitoneal membrane closure.

Horner's Syndrome

A clinical syndrome resulting from cervical sympathetic pathway disruption (such as from an apical Pancoast tumor), presenting with ptosis, miosis, anhidrosis, and enophthalmos.

Marjolin's Ulcer

An aggressive squamous cell carcinoma arising within long-standing chronic wounds, venous ulcers, or burn scars.

Fogarty's Catheter

A flexible balloon-tipped vascular catheter used for surgical embolectomy and thrombus extraction.

VAC Dressing

Vacuum Assisted Closure system that applies continuous negative pressure ($-120\,\text{to}\, -125\,\text{mmHg}$) to enhance granulation tissue formation and accelerate wound healing.