In much the same way that it was difficult to create a multiple user friendly list of topics for public and professionals, it was difficult to make a series of pigeon holes for post-operative problems.
We have therefore resorted to allocating the body part involved and breaking that down into problems that may affect that body part after an intervention.
This will follow a version of what is sometimes termed the “surgical sieve”; a list of pathological processes: infection, inflammation, failure of the procedure (for whatever reason), tumour recurrence, ischaemic necrosis and a number of operation specific problems.