General surgery is a technical discipline that comprises the treatment of systemic or local problems in the body through surgical means and has influenced several surgical and fundamental branches of medicine in terms of their general principles (such as wound healing, metabolic and endocrine response to injury etc.) and development.

Types of surgeries are predominantly named after the operated organ or the system which such organ is part of. Endoscopic and laparoscopic surgical interventions involving the goiter (thyroid gland), breast, alimentary canal (esophagus), stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, anus, hernia, liver, gall bladder, and bile ducts are surgical interventions that fall into the scope of General Surgery. When classified according to systems, surgeries that are covered by General Surgery include goiter surgeries, breast surgeries, surgeries of the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small intestine, large intestine, rectum, and anal region as well as liver and hernia surgeries. In certain cases, General Surgery aims not only the performance of surgeries, but prevention of surgeries by means of preventive medicine.