What DM Medical Oncology residents and departments actually read in 2026 — with journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you will need for your thesis and exit practical.
Sitting the DrNB instead? The same superspecialty is covered at DrNB Medical Oncology books.
DM Medical Oncology and DrNB Medical Oncology cover the same superspecialty and the same exit-exam scope, so residents on both routes read the same texts. These 34 titles are the reading list the National Board of Examinations publishes for Medical Oncology, reproduced exactly — spelling and abbreviations included. Use it as your scope anchor, then buy the current edition of the titles you actually need from the next section.
Source: National Board of Examinations curriculum document for Medical Oncology
The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read through, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.
Three years of superspecialty training goes faster than it sounds, and most of it is spent on the floor. The order below is what works for most DM Medical Oncology residents.
Read Abeloff or DeVita disease-site by disease-site as the postings rotate, and learn staging cold from AJCC. Work through Chabner for drug mechanisms and toxicity; register the thesis protocol.
Layer on haematological malignancy and transplant using Williams Hematology and Postgraduate Haematology, keep NCCN/ESMO guidelines current for each site, and use the Chemotherapy Source Book at the prescribing desk. Collect thesis data.
Complete a full second pass of DeVita, revise all guidelines and National Cancer Grid recommendations, and drill smear/marrow, PET response and prescription stations weekly alongside long-case practice. Submit the thesis.
Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.
Cases, spotters and stations that come up again and again in the exit exam.
DM Medical Oncology is a three-year course after MD/DNB in General Medicine or Paediatrics. The exit examination follows the NMC PG pattern of four theory papers of 100 marks each plus clinical, practical and viva voce, with an accepted thesis required to appear. Practicals are notable for a chemotherapy prescription and dose-modification station and for peripheral smear, marrow and PET-CT response stations.
The titles on this page are the ones residents and departments actually use, each with the edition in circulation now. Start with the first one listed and add the references as your reading deepens.
DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg's Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology by DeVita, Lawrence, Rosenberg (eds) is the usual anchor. The anchor text for DM Medical Oncology theory across Indian programmes.
DM Medical Oncology is a superspecialty course taken after a broad-specialty MD, MS or DNB, so the reading is narrower and deeper. The broad-specialty texts are assumed knowledge by the time you start.
No. Most residents own two or three and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.
We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.
Black and white is 50 paise a page, colour is Rs 1 a page, and binding is Rs 40 per bound volume. A 400-page mixed set with binding usually works out around Rs 300 plus delivery.
Send the PDF on WhatsApp — colour Rs 1/page, B&W 50p/page, binding Rs 40. Printed, bound and delivered anywhere in India.
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