Surgery Clerkship

Health Sciences Library

PubMed - MeSH Surgery Subheading

Selecting the Surgery subheading with a specific Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) for a disease is one way of quickly focusing a search. .The Surgery subheading is "Used for operative procedures on organs, regions, or tissues in the treatment of diseases, including tissue section by lasers. It excludes transplantation, for which "transplantation" is used.

Change the drop down search box from PubMed to MeSH, type the disease or condition in the search box, and click on the Search button.

rotator cuff MeSH search

 

 

If a list of several headings appears, choose the most appropriate one. (For instance, Anterior Wall Myocardial Infarction may be more appropriate than Myocardial Infarction, depending on your topic.) Then check the Surgery subheading box and also check the Restrict to MeSH Major topic box if appropriate.Click on the Add to Search Builder button after making your selections and then click on the Search PubMed button.

rotator cuff MesH search with surgery subheading & major topic selected

PubMed - MeSH Surgical Procedures

Focus your searching by using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Change the drop down search box from PubMed to MeSH, type surgical procedures in the search box, and click on the Search button.

MeSH search for surgical procedures

 

 

As of July 2015, there are 60 surgical procedures subject headings.Click on Surgical Procedures, Operative to choose that term.

list of surgical procedures MeSH

 

 

Scroll down to see a comprehensive listing of headings for various surgical procedures. Depending on your search topic, you may choose a specific subject heading like Cryosurgery or select Ablation Techniques to search a group of related procedures.

"Surgical Procedures, Operative" MeSH hierarchy

 

 

Select a subject heading by clicking on it. The next screen may provide a definition and will include subheadings that may be selected to further focus your search . You also may want to limit your searching to major topics only. Click on the Add to Search Builder button after making your selections and then click on the Search PubMed button.

cryosurgery MeSH with adverse effects, contraindications, mortality subheadings & limited to major topic