A dissertation of ten surgical conditions

One of the requirements for the degree of master of medicine in general survey is the submission of a dissertation of ten surgical conditions, each of different nature, and the author should have participated in the management of patients presented. Of these 10 conditions, five should be of general surgery, three of a surgical specially of one's choice, and two of orthopaedics and trauma surgery. In general Surgery, the thesis has tried to balance between emergency surgery and cold surgical conditions. Therefore it has covered volvulus of the sigmoid Colon, perforated duodenal ulcer and acute appendicitis, to represent emergency surgery and portal hypertension and obstructive jaundice to represent cold surgical conditions. For a surgical specialty, surgical oncology was chosen and presented. Although surgeons have treating concern surgically for several millenniums it is only recently that surgical oncology has come up as a surgical specialty on its own right, in the same level as Urology or new surgery. The main reason which prompted choosing this subject however is the nature of the conditions we admit in surgical wards at Muhimbili Medical Centre. Despite inadequate facilities, between 30% and 50% of all surgical admissions, and over 80% of all surgical referrals from up country hospitals are for cancer patients, and at any simple time nearly 40% of all patients in general surgical wads have cancer. So a large part of our practice is oncology, and writing on this, as a specialty is no way, inappropriate.