Neurosurgery VS. Cardiothoracic Surgery?

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cranialcombustion

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I would appreciate if someone could elaborate upon the differences between these specialties regarding lifestyle, residency, variety of procedures, and future of the specialty? I'm equally interested in both fields so far in terms of the organ systems and procedures. Just wondering what others think. Thanks! :)

Based on post by Scrubsy in pre-med forum: Cardiothoracic surgery vs. Neurosurgery

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You can't possibly be "equally interested in both fields" if you have no idea. And since you are "pre-health" , it's too early anyway.
 
Neurosurgery you can operate on people who are essentially dead and have horrible outcomes. Cool surgeries though. In my opinion, the worst lifestyle out of all specialties.

Cardiothoracic you get the patients that cardiology couldn't fix...in other words, the sickest patients who also don't have good outcomes. Plus the future of the field is highly questionable, with many people saying it is dying. They don't have a good grasp of their patients due to competition from cardiology and IR...

Choose neurosurgery, or look into Vascular!
 
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Cardiothoracic you get the patients that cardiology couldn't fix...in other words, the sickest patients who also don't have good outcomes. Plus the future of the field is highly questionable, with many people saying it is dying. They don't have a good grasp of their patients due to competition from cardiology and IR...so I would just stay away from it until the future is certain.

Uh...seriously? What year of residency are you in?
 
Uh...seriously? What year of residency are you in?

What part of that is incorrect? At my institution it seems like the cardiac surgeons get the patients cardiology couldn't handle and are completely run over. They don't have a good handle on percutaneous treatment options.
 
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You must be in cardiothoracic surgery...

I'm just a simple bone surgeon. But even I know that you shouldn't talk authoritatively about specialties based on brief anecdotal experience at your hospital.

ESPECIALLY if you're a couple months deep into your fourth year of medical school.
 
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You can't possibly be "equally interested in both fields" if you have no idea. And since you are "pre-health" , it's too early anyway.

True! If so, the screen name would be "CranialInfarction." A good 50/50 split.

Still, I have heard that the way to a man's heart is through his brain.

I agree that it's too early to dive into the specifics of residency and practice, as this tends to evolve over time. I'm sure you could be pointed toward some resources that would be helpful, but most SDNers don't want to type out several paragraphs when 99% of the time the pre-med inquirer will not end up in either field or really be able to interpret the responses. OP, please don't be offended.

But, to summarize, there are both good and bad outcomes in both fields...neither is limited exclusively to horrible patients with bad outcomes. Both get paid very well, and both work very hard with long hours.
 
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I find posts like this funny because right beneath me are previous posts on this exact same topic that could've easily been found with the simple use of the search function. The reality is, this question couldn't possibly be answered to any amount of satisfaction in an online forum until you're actually rotating through it and seeing the daily grind unique to each one. There are many more bridges to cross before deciding on CTS vs NS. Don't cheat yourself of the here and now by worrying about stuff way way way down the road.
 
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True! If so, the screen name would be "CranialInfarction." A good 50/50 split.

Still, I have heard that the way to a man's heart is through his brain.

I agree that it's too early to dive into the specifics of residency and practice, as this tends to evolve over time. I'm sure you could be pointed toward some resources that would be helpful, but most SDNers don't want to type out several paragraphs when 99% of the time the pre-med inquirer will not end up in either field or really be able to interpret the responses. OP, please don't be offended.

But, to summarize, there are both good and bad outcomes in both fields...neither is limited exclusively to horrible patients with bad outcomes. Both get paid very well, and both work very hard with long hours.
Cranial infarction, nice one! :)

Thanks for the responses everyone!

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