Bronchial Carcinoma Flashcards
What can recurrent episodes of pneumonia in the same lobe of the lung be a sign of?
Primary lung cancer
What happens to the affected lung in lung cancer over time?
It loses volume and gets smaller as the cancer grows
When looking at a lung cancer chest x-ray, which lung big or small, is likely to be the diseased one?
Small
What is stridor usually accompained by?
A course aurdible wheeze during inspiration
Name 6 anatomical places where local invastion of a cancer can occur?
- Recurrent laryngeal nerve
- Pericardium
- Oesophagus
- Bronchial plexus
- Pleural cavity
- Superior vena cava
What is a clinical feature of recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy?
Hoarse voice
What aspect of lung cancer can lead to atrial fibrilation?
Local invasion of the pericardium, accompanied by pericardial effusion
What clinical feature is a pointer for a tumour in the oesophagus?
Dysphagia
What is wasting of the small muscles in the hand due to?
T1 root infiltration by a primary lung cancer in the apex of the lung
What is a pancoast tumour and what can its local invasoin be?
Tumour of the pulmonary apex - brachial plexus invasion
What clinical sign occurs when the primary tumour invades the pleural space?
Pleural effusion
What can a symptom of pleural effusion be?
Breathlessness
What does local invasion of the SVC obstruct?
Drainage of blood from arms and head
What clinical features can local invasion of the SVC obstrucing drainage of blood from arms and head cause?
Puffy eyelids and headache
What could distended veins visible on the abdomen and thorax mean?
Blood flow is bypassing the obstructed SVC by opening up anastomoses with the IVC tributeries
What invasion can be described by localised chest wall pain, worse with movement and pain which is worse at night?
Chest wall invasion by lung cancer
What are 6 common sites for metastases from primary lung cancer?
- Liver
- Brain
- Bone
- Adrenal
- Skin
- Lung
What metastases has insidious onset, can lead to weakness, visual disturbance, headaches and is worse in the morning, not photophobic?
Cerebral metastases
What is the headache due to in cerebral metastases?
Increased intracranial pressure
If a cerebral metastases involves the cortex, what could the presenting feature be?
Epileptic fit
With liver metastases - what can be said about the LFVTs?
Abnormal, particularly alkaline phophatase
What are two clinical features of bone metastases?
- Localised pain which is worse at night
2. Pathalogical fracture - bone may fracture follwoin a trivial mechanical stress
What investigation can be used to investigate bone metastases?
Isotope bone scan
What 7 cloinical features are a result of a primary tumour but dont indicate metastatic disease?
- Finger clubbing
- Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy (HPOA)
- Weight loss
- Thrombophlebitis
- Hypercalcaemia
- Hyponatraemia (SIADH)
- Weakness - Eaton Lambert syndrome
Give 4 features of hypercalcaemia?
Headaches
Confusion
Thirst
Constipation
What can hypercalcaemia result from?
Tumour producing a substance which mimics the effects of parathyroid hormone
What can hyponatraemia result from?
Production of a substance which mimics Anti-Diuretic-Hormone
What is the main symptom of Hypoatraemia?
Confusion
What does Eaton Lambert Syndrome mimic?
Myaesthenia gravis
What clinical feature do these diseases all have in common: liver disease, chronic hepatitis C, congenital cyanotic heart disease, bacterial endocarditis, bronchioectasis?
Finger clubbing
What clinical featrue can elevation of the periosteum away from bone surface result in?
Symptoms of pain and tenderness of the long bones near the adjacent joints
What investigation would you not do for lung cancer?
Sputum cytology
What 4 radiological investigations might you do for lung cancer?
CXR
CT scan of thorax
PET scan
Endobronchial ultrasound
What is another invasive investigation you might do for lung cancer?
Bronchoscopy