When surgeons perform a “36 hour operation” what exactly are they doing?

Question

What exactly are they doing the entirety of those hours? Are they literally just cutting and stitching and suctioning the entire time? Do they have breaks?

In: 4243

Answer 1

Depending on the case. If it’s multi-specialty, you take turns. Longest i’ve done was 18 hours all us. We were exhausted but we did it all. It was a full pelvic exenteration.