Health technology assessment in surgery

The term health technology is intended to include all methods used by health-care professionals to promote health, to prevent and treat disease, and to improve rehabilitation and long-term care. The broad definition of a health technology means that a wide range of health-care measures can be considered to be surgical technologies. Health-technology assessment in surgery therefore includes comparisons of surgery with no surgery or best medical treatment, of alternative surgical procedures, and of alternative non-surgical adjuvant therapies.