Cancer Flashcards
Cancer is considered cured or in remission
when evidence of the disease cannot be
found in the individual’s body after how long?
5 years
True or false: cancer is never “cured”
Cancer is considered cured or in remission
when evidence of the disease cannot be
found in the individual’s body. (5 yrs)
Causes of cancer recurrence can include…
inadequate surgical margin, skip metastases, tumor thrombus, and lymph node metastasis.
What are the most frequently occurring childhood cancers?
- Leukemia (acute lymphocytic)
- Brain
- Soft tissue sarcomas
- Non-Hodgkins lymphoma
- Renal (Wilms’) tumor
What are some (general) risk factors for cancer?
- Age over 50
- Ethnicity
- Family (1st generation)
- Environment and lifestyle
What are the modifiable risk factors for cancer?
Smoking, use of smokeless tobacco
Chemical or other exposure (e.g., paint, cadmium, dye, rubber, arsenic, asbestos, radon, benzene, ionizing radiation, Agent Orange, pesticides, herbicides, organic amines)
Urban dwelling
Alcohol consumption (more than 1-2 drinks per day)
Sedentary lifestyle; lack of exercise
Obesity; diet high in animal fat Radiation/chemotherapy treatment Estrogen replacement therapy Sexually transmitted diseases Ionizing radiation
HTLV-1 (virus, rare in U.S.)
Previous lung scarring
Organ transplantation (immunosuppression)
HIV infection
Chronic exposure to UV rays
Geographic location
Smoked foods, salted fish and meat (nitrates and nitrites) Tamoxifen use
Nulliparity (never having children)
Vitamin B1 2 deficiency
Lack of access to or use of health care and screening tests
3 major types of cancer
1) carcinoma
2) sarcoma
3) lymphoma and leukemia
Which cancers arise from epithelial cells?
Carcinomas
Breast
Colon
Pancreas
Skin
Large intestine Lungs
Stomach
Metastasize via lymphatics
How do carcinomas metastasize?
Via lymphatics
Where do carcinomas arise from?
Epithelial cells
Which types of cancer develop from connective tissue?
Sarcomas
Fat
Muscle
Bone
Cartilage
Synovium
Fibrous tissue
Metastasize hematogenously Local invasion
Where do sarcomas develop?
Connective tissue
How do sarcomas metastasize?
Hematogenously or local invasion
Which cancers originate in lymphoid tissues?
Lymphomas
Lymph nodes
Spleen
Intestinal lining
Spread by infiltration
How do lymphomas spread?
Infiltration
Where do lymphomas originate?
Lymphoid tissues
What are the cancers of the hematologic system?
Leukemia
Bone marrow
Spreads by invasion and infiltration
How do leukemias spread?
Infiltration and invasion
What do you call a non-cancerous tumor?
Benign
What do you call a malignant cancer that has
invaded surrounding tissue?
Invasive
What do you call a cancer that has spread from its primary site to a secondary site?
Metastatic
What are the early clinical manifestations of malignancy?
- C hanges in bowel or bladder habitis
- A sore that does not heal in 6 weeks
- U nusual bleeding or discharge
- T hichening or lump in breast or elsewhere
- I ndigestion or difficulty in swallowing
- O bvious change in a wart or mole
- N agging cough or hoarseness