status-sheet
Study Guide: Oral Exam
Each candidate will be examined by eight examiners for a period of 25-30 minutes with each.
The subject matter is the clinical management of malignant and benign disease and is usually presented according to the anatomical site of the primary tumor. Electronic display of images may be used in some categories of the examination.
When included in the oral examination, the items indicated below will relate primarily to management of the cases under discussion. Questions in any category may relate to, but are not necessarily limited to:
- Anatomy
- Epidemiology
- Pathology
- Patterns of local, regional and distant involvement
- Clinical evaluation, including staging and tumor markers
- Selection and integration of treatment modalities, including surgery, radiation therapy and systemic therapy, as applicable
- Radiation therapy planning and technique
- Results of treatments, including patterns of failure and prognostic factors
- Complications of treatments with emphasis on the effects of radiation therapy on normal tissues, and how they should be managed
- Tumor staging: based on the most recent edition of the AJCC Staging Manual (Edition 7, effective 1/1/2010), unless the examiner indicates otherwise. If your response is based on previous manuscripts and/or studies using older staging systems, please let the examiner know.
- Significant previously reported clinical trials
The anatomical sites are divided into the following eight categories:
Gastrointestinal Tract—includes malignancies of the:
- esophagus
- stomach
- small bowel
- colon
- rectum
- anus
- pancreas
- adrenal gland
- liver
- gallbladder
- bile ducts
Gynecologic Malignancies—includes malignant lesions of the:
- cervix
- vagina
- uterus
- fallopian tubes
- ovaries
- vulva
Genitourinary Tract—includes malignancies of the:
- prostate
- kidney
- ureter
- urethra
- bladder
- penis
- testis
Lymphoma/Leukemia—includes:
- Hodgkin lymphoma
- non-Hodgkin lymphomas
- leukemias - acute and chronic
- myeloma and plasmacytoma
- cutaneous lymphomas
Head, Neck, and Skin—includes malignancies of the:
- oral cavity
- paranasal sinuses
- salivary glands
- nasopharynx
- hypopharynx
- thyroid
- larynx
- oropharynx
- skin - basal cell, squamous cell, melanoma, Merkel cell, Kaposi sarcoma
Breast— includes:
- non-invasive and invasive malignancies of the breast
- in situ carcinomas of the breast
Central Nervous System and Pediatric Malignancies—includes benign and malignant diseases of the:
- central nervous system
- neoplasms of the pediatric age group
- histiocytoses
Lung and Mediastinum, Soft Tissue and Bone—includes malignancies of the:
- lung and mediastinum
- pleura
- soft tissues
- bone
American Joint Commission on Cancer (AJCC) Staging:
In all instances where questions relate to disease staging of contemporaneous cases or hypothetical situations, the correct staging system will be the most current as published by the AJCC (at this time, Ed. 7, dated 1/1/2010). In instances where questions refer to previously reported clinical trials, staging will relate to the system in place at the time of the report.