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MRCP Part 2 → Oncology and palliative care

Oncology and palliative care for MRCP Part 2

Oncology and palliative care accounts for roughly 5% of the MRCP Part 2 blueprint. This bank has 1 item tagged to it.

How much of MRCP Part 2 is oncology and palliative care?

Around 5% of the paper, per MRCP(UK) examination blueprints and regulations. That weighting is why the DocPasser mock builder samples sections in proportion rather than shuffling everything into one pile — practising a flat distribution trains you for a paper that does not exist.

Verification status. All 3 published figures on this page have been read in the source document and dated above. Source of truth: MRCP(UK) examination blueprints and regulations, MRCP(UK) Federation. How we verify.

Sample oncology and palliative care questions

A 67-year-old man with metastatic prostate cancer presents with two weeks of progressive lower back pain, now with bilateral leg weakness and difficulty initiating micturition. Examination shows a sensory level at T10 and upgoing plantars. What is the most appropriate immediate management?

  1. Immediate radiotherapy without imaging Wrong. Radiotherapy needs the level defined, and imaging within 24 hours is achievable. Treating blind risks missing the compressive lesion entirely.
  2. Urgent MRI of the thoracic spine only Wrong extent. Imaging only the clinically suspected level misses synchronous compression elsewhere, which changes the radiotherapy field.
  3. High-dose dexamethasone and urgent whole-spine MRI within 24 hours correct Correct. This is metastatic spinal cord compression. Dexamethasone reduces peritumoural oedema and is given immediately on clinical suspicion, and the whole spine is imaged because multiple levels are involved in a substantial minority. Neurological status at treatment is the strongest predictor of walking afterwards.
  4. Analgesia and outpatient oncology review within two weeks Wrong and negligent in this context. Every hour of established compression reduces the chance of preserved ambulation.
  5. Plain radiographs of the thoracolumbar spine Wrong. Plain films are insensitive for cord compression and a normal film provides no reassurance.

The point: Metastatic spinal cord compression: steroids on suspicion, whole-spine MRI within 24 hours, then a decision between surgical decompression and radiotherapy. Back pain in a patient with known malignancy is cord compression until imaged.

Source: NICE NG234 — Spinal metastases and metastatic spinal cord compression NICE · tier 1, national regulator or guidance

The other sections of MRCP Part 2

Cardiology · Respiratory medicine · Gastroenterology and hepatology · Neurology · Endocrinology and metabolic medicine · Nephrology · Rheumatology · Haematology · Infectious diseases and tropical medicine · Dermatology · Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · Clinical sciences and statistics · Acute and critical care medicine

Back to MRCP Part 2

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