Surgical

An initial surgical count that is skipped because the patient's life cannot wait for it, as in a major emergency.

A heated cabinet, usually in the substerile room, that keeps IV and irrigation fluids, and in some ORs blankets, warm until use.

A machine that cleans instruments with jets of water and detergent, then disinfects them with a hot water rinse.

A sterilized package with dampness, droplets or puddles on or in it after the cycle; it is treated as contaminated.

Moist gauze packed into a wound and left to dry, so that dead tissue comes away with it when it is pulled off.

A pancreaticoduodenectomy: removal of the head of the pancreas, the duodenum, the gallbladder and the lower bile duct, for cancer.

Setting an endoscopic camera to what white looks like through its scope and light cord, so every other color shows true on the monitor.

The CDC's four classes of surgical wound, from I (clean) to IV (dirty or infected), set by how contaminated the wound became and so its infection risk.

Bringing the edges of a wound together, layer by layer, with suture, staples, adhesive strips or skin glue so it can heal.

A synthetic vascular graft of tightly woven polyester (Dacron) fabric, strong and low-leaking, used mainly to replace large arteries such as the aorta.

Surgery or another invasive procedure done at the wrong place on the body, including on the wrong side.