Basisexamen Chirurgie Subject Coverage: 11 Study Areas Mapped to the Official Blueprint

The current Chirurgenkurs question bank groups preparation into eleven study areas. This is a practical study structure, not an official claim that the examination has a fixed number of disciplines. Use the official content page and current examination instructions linked below as the final authority for your sitting.

How the question bank maps to the official blueprint

The official outline describes a 60% general-surgery knowledge and 40% specialty-expertise distribution. The specialty allocation within that outline covers general surgery, orthopaedics and trauma, vascular surgery, hand and plastic surgery, paediatric surgery, thoracic surgery, and urological surgery. The mapping below connects those official blueprint areas to the closest Chirurgenkurs study areas without suggesting that the product's eleven areas are an official examination breakdown.

60% general surgical knowledge

Chirurgenkurs study areas: General Surgical Principles; Anesthesia, Emergency & Intensive Care.

Build the cross-specialty foundation: perioperative care, shock, infection, wound healing, resuscitation, and critical deterioration. These principles also recur in questions throughout the specialty areas.

40% specialty expertise

• General surgery → Visceral Surgery: acute abdomen, gastrointestinal, hepatobiliary, colorectal, and common operative decision-making.
• Orthopaedics and trauma → Trauma & Orthopedic Surgery: fracture care, polytrauma priorities, compartment syndrome, and dislocations.
• Vascular surgery → Vascular Surgery: acute limb ischemia, aneurysmal disease, vascular imaging, and peripheral arterial disease.
• Hand and plastic surgery → Plastic, Reconstructive & Hand Surgery: burns, wounds, hand trauma, tissue coverage, and reconstructive principles.
• Paediatric surgery → Pediatric Surgery: neonatal, paediatric abdominal, and other time-critical surgical presentations.
• Thoracic surgery → Thoracic Surgery: pleural disease, chest trauma, lung and oesophageal pathology, and chest-drain decisions.
• Urological surgery → Urology: obstruction, stones, urological emergencies, oncology, and urgent management choices.

Additional question-bank practice

Cardiac Surgery and Neurosurgery provide broader surgical preparation. They are included as product study areas, but the current official summary does not identify them as separate percentage allocations.

This mapping is a study-planning aid. The official documents remain the authority for the current examination, while the question bank gives you a consistent way to practise each mapped area and identify gaps.

1. Visceral Surgery

The largest and most heavily tested subject. Questions cover the acute abdomen, biliary disease, appendicitis, bowel obstruction, colorectal pathology, hernias, and upper GI surgery. Expect scenario-based questions that require you to choose between management options (conservative vs surgical) based on clinical presentation, imaging findings, and patient risk. The Tokyo Guidelines for cholangitis and the Edinburgh criteria for cholecystitis recur frequently.

2. General Surgical Principles

This subject tests the foundational knowledge that underpins all surgical practice: wound healing, surgical site infection, fluid and electrolyte management, nutritional support, thromboprophylaxis, and perioperative care. Many questions are framed around complications — a post-operative patient with a fever on day three, or a wound that fails to heal — requiring you to reason through differential diagnosis and management.

3. Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery

Fracture management, polytrauma assessment (including ATLS principles), compartment syndrome, dislocations, and soft tissue injuries. Questions frequently involve radiograph interpretation embedded in a clinical scenario: a patient with a mechanism of injury and specific findings on examination, requiring you to identify the most likely fracture pattern and its appropriate management.

4. Anesthesia, Emergency, and Intensive Care

Despite its name, this subject is heavily focused on the surgical implications of anesthetic and critical care decisions. Airway management, recognition and treatment of shock, post-operative analgesia, ICU management of surgical complications, and recognition of life-threatening deterioration. The ABCDE approach is embedded throughout many of the scenario stems.

5. Cardiac Surgery

Ischemic heart disease, valvular pathology, aortic aneurysm and dissection, and their operative management. Questions often center on the decision of whether and when to operate, perioperative cardiac risk assessment, and the management of post-operative complications. Familiarity with the anatomy of coronary revascularization and valve replacement is expected.

6. Thoracic Surgery

Lung cancer staging and resectability, pleural disease (pneumothorax, empyema, effusion), esophageal pathology, and mediastinal masses. Questions frequently test knowledge of chest drain indications and management, and the criteria for surgical versus non-surgical management of spontaneous pneumothorax.

7. Vascular Surgery

Peripheral arterial disease and its classification (Fontaine/Rutherford), carotid artery disease, aortic aneurysm (including rupture and endovascular repair), venous disease, and acute limb ischemia. The six Ps of acute ischemia and the threshold for operative intervention are frequently tested. Ankle-brachial index interpretation appears regularly.

8. Urology

Urological oncology (prostate, bladder, renal cell), urolithiasis, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and urological emergencies (testicular torsion, ureteric obstruction, urinary retention). Many questions are scenario-based with PSA values, imaging findings, or urinalysis results requiring interpretation. Testicular torsion — its presentation, differential diagnosis, and the time-critical nature of management — appears reliably.

9. Neurosurgery

Head injury and intracranial pressure management, spinal cord compression, brain tumors, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and hydrocephalus. Questions frequently require identification of surgical emergencies from a clinical and radiological description: a patient with a lucid interval following head injury, or progressive neurological deficit from cord compression. The GCS scoring system and its implications for airway management recur.

10. Plastic, Reconstructive, and Hand Surgery

Burns (classification, fluid resuscitation using the Parkland formula, referral criteria), wound management and reconstructive options (the reconstructive ladder), hand trauma (tendon, nerve, and vessel injury), and skin lesions (melanoma staging, excision margins). Burns management questions in particular tend to be highly specific and reward systematic knowledge of the assessment and initial management protocol.

11. Pediatric Surgery

Congenital surgical conditions, neonatal emergencies, pediatric abdominal disease, trauma, and the principles of surgical care in children. Questions focus on recognizing time-critical presentations, adapting assessment and management to age and development, and knowing when specialist referral is required.

Allocation of preparation time

A common error is to prepare proportionally across every study area regardless of prior knowledge or confidence. A more effective approach is to assess your baseline performance early, then weight your revision toward lower-scoring areas while maintaining a schedule for your strongest areas. Broad coverage matters, but the official content outline and current examination instructions should guide your final allocation of time.