The following practice questions are similar to those asked on the American Board of Surgery Recertification Examination. You can use them in preparation for the examination, to fulfill learning requirements for various maintenance of competence programs, or simply to improve your surgical knowledge.

1. In high energy electrical burns, the tissue most damaged is
a) Skin
b) Bone
c) Blood vessels
d) Muscle
d) Subcutaneous fat

2. Total mastectomy should be performed for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) if
a) The breast shows mammographic evidence of multicentric disease
b) The patient has lupus
c) The diagnosis is made during the 18th week of pregnancy
d) The site has been radiated previously
d) Margins of prior resection were clear

3. Risk factors for cholangiocarcinoma at the hepatic duct bifurcation include all of the following, except
a) Sclerosing cholangitis
b) Hepatolithiasis
c) Hepatitis C
d) Caroli's disease
d) Choledochal cysts

4. Which of the following statements about parotid tumors is true?
a) Most are malignant.
b) Mixed tumors frequently metastasize
c) The deep lobe always needs to be resected to obtain margins clear of malignancy.
d) Anatomic neck dissections are indicated in the treatment of most malignant parotid tumors
d) They are best diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNa)

5. The gastric mucosal cell that secretes intrinsic factor is the
a) G cell
b) Parietal cell
c) D cell
d) Enterochromaffin-like cell
d) Chief cell

6. Adenocarcinoma of the esophagus
a) Occurs with equal frequency in the middle and distal thirds
b) Is more common in African Americans
c) Occurs only from Barrett's metaplasia of squamous epithelium from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERd)
d) Is more common than the squamous cell type
d) Rarely metastasizes to lymph nodes

7. Pulmonary emboli
a) Cause hypercapnia
b) Most commonly originate from the pelvic veins
c) Can be best diagnosed by ventilation-perfusion scan
d) Are independent of the body-mass index (BMI)
d) Cause mortality in fewer than 5% of treated patients

8. Popliteal aneurisms
a) Are commonly bilateral
b) Occur with equal frequency in men and women
c) Usually present with rupture
d) Are not associated with abdominal aortic aneurisms
d) Can only be diagnosed using imaging studies

9. Surgical site infections
a) Complicating clean-contaminated procedures are usually caused by Staphylococcus aureus
b) By definition, occur within 30 days after surgery
c) Increase in frequency with advancing age
d) Occur in up to 15% of clean-contaminated cases
d) Can be reduced in frequency by preoperative showering with chlorhexidine

10. Gastric bypass for morbid obesity
a) Is indicated for patients with a BMI of 35 and no comorbidities
b) May be indicated for patients with renal failure
c) Has no effect on fertility in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome
d) Has a 10% anastomotic leak rate
d) Causes weight loss by inducing malabsorption

11. Femoral hernias
a) Should be approached through an infrainguinal incision
b) Occur more frequently in men than in women
c) Rarely cause strangulation of bowel
d) Occur lateral to the femoral vein
d) Are repaired by Cooper's ligament repairs

12. Angiodysplasia
a) Is associated with calcific aortic stenosis
b) Occurs mainly in the left colon
c) Rarely stops bleeding spontaneously
d) Does not cause bleeding in the small intestine
d) Is a mucosal abnormality