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ADT · 11-28-2001, 10:29 PM

Anyone have info/insight about lifestyle, caseload, salary, etc. for surg. onc? How tough is it to snag a fellowship (relative to vascular or trauma...)??

Floyd77803 · 11-29-2001, 10:36 AM

I'm not an expert on the subject but I don't think many programs offer a fellowship in surgical oncology. I think most so-called surgical oncologists are general surgeons who take a special interest in the surgical treatment of cancers. I may be wrong.

DNALadder2002 · 11-29-2001, 11:08 AM

I agree with the above comments. I know a surgical oncologist and he did not complete a fellowship in surgical oncology. He is a general surgeon who does cancer cases.

Fah-Q · 11-29-2001, 04:17 PM

Not necessarily true. Plenty of cancer hositals offer surg onc fellowships. The problem is even with your extra training you will still be fighting for cases with general surgeons, head and neck surgeons, urologists, orthopaedists, neurosurgeons, and even plastic surgeons. Head and neck oncology is one of the more common surgical oncology fellowships, but I think they only take people who have completed an ENT residency.

**Winged Scapula** · 11-30-2001, 02:24 PM

I can answer your last question...Surgical Oncology fellowships are considered among the most difficult to obtain. A general surgeon who does "cancer cases" but hasn't completed a surgical oncology fellowship is not a Surgical Oncologist anymore than a General Surgeon who does skin grafts and removes skin cancers is a plastic surgeon. Semantics but the "title" of Surgical Oncologist should be reserved for those who have actually completed a fellowship.

At any rate, they are not difficult to find (the programs that is), but share one of the worst match rates with Pediatric Surgery. Lifestyle is generally pretty good as the caseload is elective, scheduled procedures and the pay is great.

Hope this helps.

**droliver** · 11-30-2001, 08:48 PM

Kim is very correct in her comments. Surgical oncology is VERY competative as there are less than 20 institutions that have fellows (with MD Anderson in Houston and Sloan-Kettering Memorial in NYC the biggest two). In practice the oncologists get the referrals for many of the pancreatic, hepatobilliary, and sarcomas that are done. They also do a lot of the same cases that general surgeons do (breast, melanoma, colorectal). Lifestyle & salary are very good as most of the cases are elective and there are very few fellowship trained oncologists running around

**Winged Scapula** · 12-01-2001, 08:32 AM

I just finished my Surg Onc rotation and the cases we did were:

Whipple, Whipple, Whipple, some planned Whipples which became "peak and shrieks", melanoma, SCC resections, breast cases, esoph and gastric CA resections, Whipple, liver resections and did I mention Whipples?

**Winged Scapula** · 12-03-2001, 05:50 AM

BTW, moving this over to Rotations and Residencies.

11-28-2001, 10:29 PM	#1
ADT Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Posts: 30	Surgical Oncology SDN Members don't see this ad. Anyone have info/insight about lifestyle, caseload, salary, etc. for surg. onc? How tough is it to snag a fellowship (relative to vascular or trauma...)??

11-30-2001, 02:24 PM	#5
Winged Scapula Cougariffic! Status: Attending Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Arizona Posts: 24,113 Blog Entries: 5	I can answer your last question...Surgical Oncology fellowships are considered among the most difficult to obtain. A general surgeon who does "cancer cases" but hasn't completed a surgical oncology fellowship is not a Surgical Oncologist anymore than a General Surgeon who does skin grafts and removes skin cancers is a plastic surgeon. Semantics but the "title" of Surgical Oncologist should be reserved for those who have actually completed a fellowship. At any rate, they are not difficult to find (the programs that is), but share one of the worst match rates with Pediatric Surgery. Lifestyle is generally pretty good as the caseload is elective, scheduled procedures and the pay is great. Hope this helps. __________________ Lee: Bit-o-trivia -- when they were writing the pilot for Scrubs, the writers posted on SDN looking for funny stories. There's the belief that "Dr. Cox" is named after our own "Dr. Kimberli Cox".

11-30-2001, 08:48 PM	#6
droliver SDN Moderator Status: Attending Join Date: May 2001 Location: Birmingham, AL Posts: 1,424	Kim is very correct in her comments. Surgical oncology is VERY competative as there are less than 20 institutions that have fellows (with MD Anderson in Houston and Sloan-Kettering Memorial in NYC the biggest two). In practice the oncologists get the referrals for many of the pancreatic, hepatobilliary, and sarcomas that are done. They also do a lot of the same cases that general surgeons do (breast, melanoma, colorectal). Lifestyle & salary are very good as most of the cases are elective and there are very few fellowship trained oncologists running around __________________ http://plasticsurgery101.blogspot.com/ www.birminghamspecialists.com

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11-29-2001, 10:36 AM	#2
Floyd77803 Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Kalamazoo, MI, USA Posts: 54	I'm not an expert on the subject but I don't think many programs offer a fellowship in surgical oncology. I think most so-called surgical oncologists are general surgeons who take a special interest in the surgical treatment of cancers. I may be wrong.

11-29-2001, 11:08 AM	#3
DNALadder2002 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 151	I agree with the above comments. I know a surgical oncologist and he did not complete a fellowship in surgical oncology. He is a general surgeon who does cancer cases.

11-29-2001, 04:17 PM	#4
Fah-Q Senior Member Status: Attending Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 309	Not necessarily true. Plenty of cancer hositals offer surg onc fellowships. The problem is even with your extra training you will still be fighting for cases with general surgeons, head and neck surgeons, urologists, orthopaedists, neurosurgeons, and even plastic surgeons. Head and neck oncology is one of the more common surgical oncology fellowships, but I think they only take people who have completed an ENT residency.

12-01-2001, 08:32 AM	#7
Winged Scapula Cougariffic! Status: Attending Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Arizona Posts: 24,113 Blog Entries: 5	I just finished my Surg Onc rotation and the cases we did were: Whipple, Whipple, Whipple, some planned Whipples which became "peak and shrieks", melanoma, SCC resections, breast cases, esoph and gastric CA resections, Whipple, liver resections and did I mention Whipples?

12-03-2001, 05:50 AM	#8
Winged Scapula Cougariffic! Status: Attending Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Arizona Posts: 24,113 Blog Entries: 5	BTW, moving this over to Rotations and Residencies.