The Ewing Society—known today as the Society of Surgical Oncology—was started by surgeons interested in promoting the field of oncology.
[1] The field was expected to continue expanding via the proliferation of cancer centers, as well as advanced minimally invasive techniques, palliative surgery, and neo-adjuvant treatments.
Today, some would agree that it is simply impossible for any one surgeon to be competent in the surgical management of all malignant disease.
However, this is a matter of semantics, as many surgeons who are thoroughly involved in treating cancer patients may consider themselves to be surgical oncologists.
The majority are large reference textbooks that seemingly combine specialties that are not generally practiced by a single practitioner but cover the academic subject.