Surgery

Surgery is a large topic to cover and can include numerous presenting complaints. This chapter focuses on key aspects of surgical pathology, including the acute abdomen and differentiating the cause of abdominal pain for which there is a large differential. This chapter provides insight into the key aspects from history and examination to enable candidates to differentiate the cause of a patient presenting with abdominal pain, and thus answer an exam question. In addition, this chapter also covers vascular pathology such as dissection and ischaemic limbs, as well as common urological problems such as haematuria and renal colic, which may all commonly appear in the short-answer question (SAQ) paper.