Study Guide:
Clinical Oncology for Computer-Based Examination

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This examination assesses your understanding of oncology, radiation therapy, and natural history. Included are questions related to cancers of every type:

• epidemiology and pathology
• requirements for cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment (including the utilization of modalities other than radiation therapy), and follow-up
• understanding of how radiation therapy affects normal tissues
• complications resulting from radiation
• ethics
• statistics
• anatomy
• optimum beams and radiation sources for various clinical situations
• tumor localization
• dose distribution
• selection of optimum volume, dose and fractionation
• precision and errors in treatment planning
• techniques involved in the treatment of the various anatomic and organ sites

Questions in any category may relate to:

• anatomy
• epidemiology/etiologic agents
• natural history
• pathology
• tumor markers
• initial clinical evaluation
• staging
• routes of local, regional and distant spread
• selection of a treatment modality
• radiation therapy techniques (including external beam, brachytherapy, and treating with unsealed radioactive agents)
• treatment results (e.g., with surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy)
• patterns of failure
• complications
• normal tissue effects
• specific details of multimodality therapies and their implications for outcomes and morbidity

Categories for Clinical Oncology

May include, but not necessarily limited to:

Pediatrics

• Retinoblastoma
• Wilms tumor
• Neuroblastoma
• Rhabdomyosarcoma and other soft tissue sarcomas
• Lymphomas
• Leukemias
• Histocytosis X
• Ewing sarcoma and other bone tumors
• Pediatric solid tumors
• Soft-tissue sarcoma
• Germ cell tumor
• Hepatic tumor
• Osteosarcoma
• Hodgkin lymphoma

Pediatric CNS Tumors

• Medulloblastoma
• Astrocytoma (glioma), low grade
• Astrocytoma, high grade
• Brain stem glioma
• Ependymoma
• Pineal/Germ cell
• Craniopharyngioma
• Optic tract
• Other

Gastrointestinal (GI) Tract

• Esophagus
• Stomach
• Small bowel
• Colon/rectum
• Anus
• Pancreas
• Biliary tract
• Liver
• Other

Gynecology

• Cervix
• Endometrium/uterus
• Ovaries & fallopian tubes
• Vagina
• Vulva
• Other

Genitourinary (GU) Tract

• Prostate
• Bladder
• Testes/seminoma
• Testes/nonseminoma
• Kidneys
• Ureter
• Urethra
• Penis
• Other

Lymphomas and Leukemias

• Hodgkin disease
• Non-Hodgkin lymphoma
• Leukemia
• Multiple myeloma/plasmacytoma
• Total body irradiation
• Total skin irradiation
• Radioimmunotherapy
• Other

Head, Neck and Skin

• Larynx
• Oral cavity
• Oropharynx
• Hypopharynx
• Nasopharynx
• Salivary glands
• Orbits
• Temporal bone
• Skin
• Thyroid gland
• Other

Lung/Mediastinum

• Non-small cell cancer
• Small cell cancer
• Superior sulcus tumor
• Thymomas and/or other mediastinum tumors
• Other

Breast

• Early-stage breast cancer
• Locally advanced breast cancer
• Inflammatory breast cancer
• Carcinoma in situ, ductal and lobular
• Locally recurrent breast cancer
• Metastatic breast cancer
• Other

Soft Tissue

• Osteosarcoma and/or chondrosarcoma
• Ewing sarcoma
• Other bone tumors
• Soft tissue sarcomas
• Desmoid tumor
• Kaposi sarcoma
• Other

Central Nervous System (CNS)

• Astrocytoma, low grade
• Astrocytoma, high grade
• Medulloblastoma
• Brainstem glioma
• Ependymoma
• Pineal
• Brain
• Lymphoma
• Meningioma
• Pituitary
• Spinal cord
• Craniopharyngioma
• Arteriovenous malformation (AVM)
• Optic tract
• Oligodendroglioma
• Other

Palliation

• Skeletal metastases
• Brain metastases
• Hepatic metastases
• Cord compression
• Vena cava syndrome
• Hemostases
• Relief of obstruction
• Other

Biostatistics

• Study design
• Definitions of statistical terms
• General interpretation & analysis
• Survival curves
• Specificity/sensitivity
• Tests of significance
• Phase III studies (randomized)
• Retrospective trials/historical controls
• Phase I & II studies (nonrandomized case control studies)
• Multiple trials/metaanalysis
• Lab tests/x-ray studies
• Other

Miscellaneous

• Ethics
• Intravascular brachytherapy
• Microspheres and unsealed sources
• Questions that do not relate to specific anatomical sites as listed above
• Other applications of irradiation