10 Most Important Surgical Advances of the Last 20 Years

June 25, 2009

Surgery dates back to Neolithic times, but some major advances have occurred in the last 20 years that have allowed for previously unthinkable procedures.

While many new techniques have been cool without being clinically relevant, Jeffrey Matthews, the chairman of surgery at the University of Chicago Hospital, explains some of the advances that have actually helped save lives.

And we’ll look back at some aspects of surgery that haven’t changed over the decades.

Here are the most important surgical advances of the last 20 years, and some old surgical procedures that are still popular.