Who We Are

This website has been created by a group of medical professionals and educators with a desire to provide an effective interactive online learning resource for medical students, residents and physicians who come into contact with these patients.

The site has been extensively edited by Dr Paul Clarkson, but contributed to from a wide area of expertise. The Canadian Orthopaedic Oncology Society (CANOOS) membership and their associated residents and fellows have provided the majority of the contributions. A full list of our contributors can be found here.

Our Goals

To provide information for medical students undergoing undergraduate training

After completing an hour or so on this site the students should have sufficient awareness of these tumours so that if they do come into contact with them in the future they will be able to:

  • Recognise that these are complex lesions
  • Know where to go to refresh their information
  • Know when to refer patients for subspecialist care

By providing the online assessment module to be generally available we hope that other medical schools will take this into their curriculum as well.

To provide practice cases for orthopaedic residents/registrars during their training years

These young surgeons will eventually come into contact with these tumours and will need to know how to recognize, diagnose and refer them appropriately. Presenting the learning material in case format helps them to prepare for exams, and also helps them to retain the information in the context in which they will use it.

To provide a resource for family physicians or other physicians without specialist expertise

As these tumours are uncommon, many physicians need to refresh their knowledge when a patient presents with such a tumour. We have tried to provide management guidelines accordingly, but recognize that any individual patient may have specific requirements. These guidelines are not intended to be a substitute for clinical experience and bedside teaching, but to complement them.

To provide information for patients

However, no website or textbook is a substitute for a consultation with a physician. We have not written this website with patients in mind, and it is not a goal to provide the kind of patient-oriented information that is widely available elsewhere. However, we recognise that patients may read this site. While we hope they find it useful, they should be aware that this is teaching material only, it is not intended to be a definitive guide to any given patient’s care.

Not Our Goals

This is not an online textbook

Our goals are to educate, not simply list information. This is why we have put so much effort into cases so learners can apply and demonstrate their knowledge.

This is not a comprehensive resource for all things sarcoma

We have not tried to write down everything we know about tumours. There are textbooks and review articles in major journals that do that far better than we can. We have tried to distil the important concepts that we think general medical professionals require for the purposes of education.

This is not a how-to guide for any individual patient

We provide no guarantee that the information here is complete or correct. Management of these tumours requires years of training and experience. If you are a patient with a sarcoma and you want to know how you should be treated, you need to consult an experienced physician for advice. You should ask them how often they treat sarcomas, and if they have completed subspecialist training in sarcomas.

Our Funding

All of the contributions and editing have been done in kind by the authors, who have generously donated their time.

In addition, the design and production was funded by a grant from the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) through the University of British Columbia. The TLEF supports innovative and effective educational enhancements intended to enrich student learning.

Website: http://tlef.ubc.ca/