What MCh Surgical 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 Surgical Oncology books.
MCh Surgical Oncology and DrNB Surgical Oncology cover the same superspecialty and the same exit-exam scope, so residents on both routes read the same texts. These 96 titles are the reading list the National Board of Examinations publishes for Surgical 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 Surgical 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 MCh Surgical Oncology residents.
MD Anderson Handbook plus AJCC staging drilled to fluency; site-specific DeVita chapters as rotations demand; Sabiston for the general surgical base; register the thesis protocol.
Systematic DeVita by disease site with Bland's Breast and Shah's Head and Neck for the two highest-volume subsites; Rosai for pathology; NCCN versions tracked as they update; thesis data collection.
Perez and Brady for radiotherapy, landmark trial review (NSABP/ACOSOG/Z0011, MAGIC/FLOT4, CROSS, MSLT-II), full second pass of NCCN and AJCC, and intensive mock clinicals and spot practice.
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.
The MCh Surgical Oncology exit examination follows the affiliating university's scheme under NMC Postgraduate Medical Education Regulations. Typical practice is four theory papers of 100 marks — basic sciences and cancer biology/epidemiology; site-specific surgical oncology (usually split over two papers); and recent advances — followed by a two-day clinical/practical with one long and two to three short cases, ward rounds, and viva covering imaging, pathology, chemotherapy spots, instruments, logbook and thesis.
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 Vincent T. DeVita Jr., Theodore S. Lawrence, Steven A. Rosenberg is the usual anchor. The oncology reference; read the site-specific chapters relevant to each rotation.
MCh Surgical 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.
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