General Surgery

General surgery encompasses the breadth of abdominal and soft-tissue practice with major minimally-invasive transformation. The session covers hernia repair techniques (TEP, TAPP, eTEP for inguinal; component separation for ventral; robotic approaches), appendicitis management (antibiotic-first APPAC and CODA follow-up), gallbladder disease (laparoscopic, robotic cholecystectomy), breast surgery (sentinel lymph-node, oncoplastic, hidden-scar), surgical site infection (SSI) prevention bundles, and emerging soft-tissue surgery. Discussion addresses ERAS protocols, robotic vs laparoscopic cost-effectiveness, ambulatory general surgery expansion, GLP-1 and pre-operative weight loss, general surgery training challenges, and the workforce shortage in rural and safety-net settings.