General Surgery General surgery, despite its name, is a surgical specialty that focuses on abdominal organs, e.g. intestines including esophagus, stomach, small bowel, colon, liver, pancreas, gallbladder and
With the prevalent trend for increasing sub-specialization in today's medical practice, General Surgery has lost some of its former glory and scope. Nonetheless, it continues to be a competitive, rewarding and highly demanding specialty in its own right.

Until recently, all surgeons in the United States were required to be board certified by the American Board of Surgery in order to progress into further sub-specialty training.
However, recently, board certification has been delegated into separate sub-branches, whereby successful completion of a Residency in General Surgery is not necessarily required, but may well be desired - depending on the country and area of practice, as well as the individual sub-specialty. Many sub-specialties are still part of the General Surgical training program. That is, General Surgeons may sub-specialize into one or more of the following disciplines:

Breast surgery
    In Australia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, general surgeons are responsible for breast care, including the surgical treatment of breast cancer. In some other countries, breast care falls under Obstetrics and gynecology.

Trauma surgery
    In the United States and Canada, the overall responsibility for trauma care falls under the auspices of general surgery. Some general surgeons obtain advanced training and specialty certification in this field alone. General surgeons must be able to deal initially with almost any surgical emergency. Often they are the first port of call to critically ill or gravely injured patients, and must perform a variety of procedures to stabilise such patients, such as intubation, burr hole, cricothyroidotomy, and emergency laparotomy or thoracotomy to staunch bleeding.
    All General Surgeons are trained in emergency surgery. Bleeding, infections, bowel obstructions and organ perforations are the main problems they deal with. Cholecystectomy, the surgical removal of the gallbladder, is one of the most common surgical procedures done worldwide. This is most often done electively, but the gallbladder can become acutely inflamed and require an emergency operation. Ruptures of the appendix and small bowel obstructions are other common emergencies.

Laparoscopic surgery
    Is a relatively new specialty dealing with minimal access techniques using cameras and small instruments inserted through 0.5 to 1 cm incisions. Robotic surgery is now evolving from this concept (see below). Gallbladders, appendices, and colons can all be removed with this technique. Hernias are now repaired mostly laparoscopically. Most bariatric surgery is performed laparoscopically.

Colorectal surgery
    Involves evaluation and treatment of complaints from the lower intestinal tract - the large bowel, rectum and anus. A large part of this care involves management of Colorectal cancer, chronic conditions such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, as well as more trivial ailments such as Hemorrhoids.

Vascular surgery
    Involves treating all problems related to our blood vessels (with the exception of the heart itself) - repairing aneurysms of the aorta or carotid arteries for example.

Endocrine surgery
    Specialising in surgical removal of endocrine glands - most commonly the thyroid, the parathyroid glands and adrenal glands.