Principles of Surgical Oncology and Pathology

Abstract

While surgery was the first discipline to treat cancer, these days cancer patients are taken care of by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) of specialists consisting of oncologists, surgeons, specialist nurses, physiotherapists, pathologists and palliative care specialists. As a student it is important to have a good working knowledge of oncology, and how cancer is diagnosed and treated. In this chapter we recap the basic oncology taught in your first years of medical school, and extend it to cover the basics of staging and treatment needed during surgical training.