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

1. Obturator hernias
a) Can only be repaired by laparotomy
b) Rarely cause bowel obstruction
c) Are best diagnosed by computed tomography (CT) scanning
d) Cause pain in the lateral thigh due to nerve compression
e) Occur at the junction of the pubic and iliac bones

2. Which of the following conditions does not cause elevation of the basal serum gastrin level?
a) Retained antrum after gastric resection
b) Chronic renal failure
c) Duodenal ulcer disease
d) Pernicious anemia
e) Vagotomy

3. In the treatment of Grave’s disease, thyroidectomy is contraindicated
a) If the patient has not been rendered euthyroid
b) During pregnancy
c) In patients with an inadequate re­sponse to radioactive iodine ablation
d) In teenagers
e) If the thyroid gland is massive

4. The small bowel tumor with the greatest propensity for bleeding is
a) Carcinoid
b) Lymphoma
c) Adenocarcinoma
d) Hamartoma
e) Leiomyoma

5. Child’s class B cirrhosis includes
a) Serum albumin > 3.5 mg/dL
b) Minimal controlled ascites
c) Serum bilirubin > 3 mg/dL
d) Absence of ascites
e) Poor nutritional state

6. Clinical indications for intubation after a severe burn include all of the following, except
a) Severe upper airway edema
b) Paco₂ > 50 mm Hg
c) Wheezing
d) Pao₂ < 60 mm Hg
e) Carboxyhemoglobin level of 40%

7. Patients with Marfan’s syndrome
a) Heal wounds normally
b) Develop aortic valvular stenosis
c) Have an abnormality of procollagen type III
d) Develop early atherosclerosis
e) Have abnormal bleeding despite normal coagulation studies

8. The most common anomaly of the biliary ductal system is
a) Duplication of the gallbladder
b) A separate right anterior hepatic duct, which enters the common hepatic duct
c) Gallbladder agenesis
d) A separate right posterior hepatic duct, which enters the common hepatic duct
e) Cystic duct crossing the common bile duct and entering on the left side

Web-only Questions
9. In surgical patients, adrenal insufficiency
a) Is generally due to pituitary failure
b) Presents with unexplained perioperative hypotension
c) Causes hypokalemia
d) Can be successfully treated with prednisone alone
e) Responds to catecholamine infusion

10. Ischemic colitis
a) Initially involves the mucosa
b) Develops when the inferior mesenteric artery becomes occluded
c) Is diagnosed by angiography
d) Should be treated by revascularization procedures
e) Is responsive to vasopressor therapy

11. Appropriate modalities to diagnose renovascular hypertension include all of the following, except
a) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with gadolinium enhancement
b) Renal artery duplex ultrasonography
c) Spiral computed tomography (CT) scanning
d) Clinical response to captopril
e) Radionuclide renal scanning

12. The most common cause of death in a patient in whom traumatic lateral compression (T-boning) caused a pelvic fracture is
a) The same as after anterior-posterior compression (head-on) injury
b) Retroperitoneal hemorrhage
c) Ruptured intra-abdominal viscus
d) Closed head injury
e) Rectal injury