Surgery

Surgery, branch of medicine chiefly concerned with manual operations to remove or repair diseased, damaged, or deformed body tissues. The origins of surgery go back to ancient times, and there is evidence that the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans achieved some impressive results. Infections and gangrene were major problems resulting from surgery during the Middle Ages in Europe, but this began to change in the 19th century. The development of techniques of sterilization and anesthetics allowed for the expansion of modern surgery under much safer conditions, and the invention of new diagnostic tools, such as X-rays and CAT scans, has made surgery more effective.