Surgery…How would you define it? In an eloquent fashion, it can be described as the act of invasively treating a patient’s problem by dissecting into their body in order to access the source of concern and rectify the anatomy. As more simply described by my grandfather, a physician himself, “Surgery is nothing more than ‘cut and suture’.” Having gone through the numerous years of rigorous training, from medical school to residency and fellowship, surgeons finally emerge equipped with the foundation needed to treat patients surgically. Whether it is vascular surgery or neurosurgery, surgeons perform highly intricate procedures everyday. Their level of skill is truly unmatched by any other, requiring them to maintain their focus and dedication for the preservation of human life. But how complex can surgery really be? As a prospective medical student myself, I wondered whether there was a procedure that could be labeled as the most complex of them all. So I did some research. Only one out of the innumerable ones out there fit the bill: Pancreatoduodenectomy. Falling in the area of expertise of a general surgeon, pancreatoduodenectomy is also commonly known as the “Whipple” (after one of its founders). It is a highly intricate surgical procedure involving great level of skill and experience. The operation is performed in order to resect pancreatic tumors commonly found on the head of the pancreas. Some of the most common symptoms in such cases include jaundice, light-colored stools, and loss of appetite. Here is an excellent video that demonstrates some of the most general aspects of the Whipple procedure and how the end-result anatomy appears in a patient. Source