The Society of Surgical Oncology has formalized training guidelines for surgeons intending to specialize in surgical oncology, with categories falling into four broad areas:

1. •Knowledge, skills and clinical experiences;
   

2. •Cancer research;
   

3. •Cancer education; and
   

4. •Leadership in oncology.
   

Knowledge, Skills, and Clinical Experiences

1. •Clinical and technical skills for providing comprehensive care to cancer patients.
   

2. •Skills in performing special and unusual operations for patients with complex or recurrent neoplasms.
   

3. •Expertise in diagnosis and management of rare or unusual tumors, based on knowledge of the natural history of such cancers.
   

4. •Knowledge and experience to determine disease stage and treatment options for individual cancer patients, at the time of diagnosis and throughout the disease course.
   

5. •Broad knowledge of other cancer treatment modalities (including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormonal therapy), which requires an understanding of the fundamental biology of cancer, clinical pharmacology, tumor immunology, and endocrinology, as well as an understanding of the potential complications of multimodality therapy.
   

6. •Expertise in the selection of patients for surgical therapy in combination with other forms of cancer treatment, as well as knowledge of the benefits and risks associated with a multidisciplinary approach.
   

7. •Expertise in palliative techniques, including proper selection of patients, proper performance of appropriate palliative surgical procedures, and knowledge of non-surgical palliative treatments.
   

8. •Knowledge of tumor biology, carcinogenesis, epidemiology, tumor markers, and tumor pathology.
   

Cancer Research

1. •Knowledge to design and implement a prospective database and to conduct clinical cancer research, particularly prospective clinical trials.
   

2. •Sufficient familiarity with statistical methods to properly evaluate results of published research studies.
   

3. •Knowledge to guide a trainee or other personnel in laboratory or clinical oncology research.
   

4. •Knowledge of the interface of basic science with clinical cancer care to facilitate translational research.
   

Cancer Education

1. •Education knowledge and skills to train students and physicians in the multimodal management of cancer patients.
   

2. •Knowledge and skills to train non-physicians in specialized cancer care.
   

3. •Skills to organize and conduct cancer-related public education programs.
   

Leadership in Oncology

1. •Skills to develop and support:
   

2. •institutional programs relating to cancer, including a tumor registry;
   

3. •institutional policies regarding cancer programs and problems;
   

4. •interdisciplinary meetings and discussions on cancer topics, patient care, and oncology research programs;
   

5. •psychosocial and rehabilitative programs for cancer patients and their families.