Defining Major Abdominal Surgery: A Scoping Review

This scoping review aimed to determine the terminology used to describe major abdominal surgical procedures. Content analysis of 312 included articles revealed 4 main categories, with operation-related factors being predominant. Gastrointestinal resection was the most frequently coded reference. Based on these findings, major abdominal surgery was defined as an intra-peritoneal operation involving luminal or solid organ resection associated with the gastrointestinal tract. However, further validation with real-world data is necessary.