Most surgical medical treatments are elective, that is, scheduled at a time to suit the surgeon, hospital, and patient.
[4] When a condition is worsening but has not yet reached the point of a true emergency, surgeons speak of semi-elective surgery: the problem must be dealt with, but a brief delay is not expected to affect the outcome.
Semi-elective procedures are typically scheduled within a time frame deemed appropriate for the patient's condition and disease.
Removal of a malignancy, for example, is usually scheduled as semi-elective surgery, to be performed within a set number of days or weeks.
An appendectomy is considered emergency surgery, but depending upon how early the diagnosis was made, the patient may have more time before the appendix risks rupturing or the infection spreads.