Elective surgery or elective procedure (from the la, eligere, meaning to choose) is surgery 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. 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.

Types

Most surgeries necessary for medical reasons are elective, that is, scheduled at a time to suit the surgeon, hospital, and patient. These include

inguinal hernia surgery Inguinal hernia surgery is an operation to repair a weakness in the abdominal wall that abnormally allows abdominal contents to slip into a narrow tube called the inguinal canal in the groin region. There are two different clusters of hernia: g ...

cataract surgery Cataract surgery, also called lens replacement surgery, is the removal of the natural lens of the eye (also called "crystalline lens") that has developed an opacification, which is referred to as a cataract, and its replacement with an intra ...

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 have the operat ...

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

facelift A facelift, technically known as a rhytidectomy (from the Ancient Greek () "wrinkle", and () "excision", the surgical removal of wrinkles), is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful facial appearance. There are mul ...

s, breast implants, liposuction, and

breast reduction Reduction mammoplasty (also breast reduction and reduction mammaplasty) is the plastic surgery procedure for reducing the size of large breasts. In a breast reduction surgery for re-establishing a functional bust that is proportionate to the woma ...

, which aim to subjectively improve a patient's physical appearance.

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 an actual cure for astigmatism, sinc ...

procedures can be elective, where a patient weighs the risks against increased quality of life expectations. LASIK is currently the top elective surgery in the United States.

Preparation

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

Urgency

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. 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 efforts. 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. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...

, for example, is usually scheduled as semi-elective surgery, to be performed within a set number of days or weeks. Urgent surgery is typically performed with 48 hours of diagnosis. Emergency surgery is performed as soon as a surgeon is available. Many surgeries can be performed as either elective or emergency surgeries, depending on the patient's needs. A sudden worsening of

gallbladder disease Gallbladder diseases are diseases involving the gallbladder and is closely linked to biliary disease, with the most common cause being gallstones (cholelithiasis). The gallbladder is designed to aid in the digestion of fats by concentrating and ...

may require immediate removal of the gallbladder by emergency surgery, but this surgery is more commonly scheduled in advance. An appendectomy 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 or stroke, surgery may or may not need to be utilized.

References

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Medical terminology Surgery