Developing a curriculum for advanced fellowship training in complex cancer for the UK

Surgery for complex colorectal cancer is elaborate: preoperative assessment, patient selection, radiological interpretation, operative strategy, operative technical skills, operative standardization, postoperative care and management of complications are all critical components. Given this complexity, training that encompasses all these crucial aspects to generate suitably edified surgeons is essential. To date, no curriculum exists to guide training in advanced and recurrent pelvic malignancy, particularly for complex colorectal cancer. Such a curriculum would potentially offer numerous advantages, not only for individual surgeons but also for research, governance, international collaboration and benchmarking. The aim of this study was to design and develop a framework for a curriculum for fellowship training in complex colorectal cancer that encompasses pelvic exenteration surgery.