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
Where does breast cancer metastasize to?
Bone (shoulder, hips, ribs, vertebrae); CNS (brain, spinal cord) Lung, pleural cavity, liver
Where does bone cancer metastasize to?
Lungs, liver, bone, then CNS
Where does cervical cancer metastasize to?
Retroperitoneal lymph nodes, bladder, rectum; paracervical, parametrial lymphatics
CNS (brain), lungs, bones, liver
Where does colorectal cancer metastasize to?
Bone (vertebrae) Peritoneum Liver, lung
Where does Ewing’s sarcoma metastasize to?
Lung, bone, bone marrow
Where does kidney cancer metastasize to?
Pelvis, groin
Lungs, pleural cavity, bone, liver
Where does leukemia metastasize to?
Does not really metastasize: causes symptoms throughout body
Where does liver cancer metastasize to?
CNS/ brain
Where does lung cancer metastasize to?
CNS (brain, spinal cord)
Bone
Mediastinum (tissue and organs between the sternum and
vertebrae such as the heart, blood vessels, trachea, esophagus, thymus, lymph nodes)
8th cervical and 1st and 2nd thoracic nerves within the brachial plexus
CNS (brain, spinal cord), bone
Where does lymphoma metastasize to?
CNS (spinal cord)
Can occur anywhere, including skin, visceral organs
Where do malignant melanomas metastasize to?
Mets can occur anywhere; skin and subcutaneous tissue; lungs; CNS (brain); liver; gastrointestinal tract; bone
Where do nonmelanoma skin cancers metastasize to?
Bones underlying involved skin; brain
Where do osteosarcomas metastasize to?
Lymph nodes, lungs, bone, kidneys, CNS (brain)
Where does ovarian cancer metastasize to?
Nearby organs (bladder, colon, rectum, uterus, fallopian tubes)
Liver, lungs; regional and distant
Where does pancreatic cancer metastasize to?
Liver
Where does prostate cancer metastasize to?
Pelvic and vertebral bones Bladder, rectum
Distant organs (lung, liver, brain)
Where does cancer of the spinal cord metastasize to?
CNS (brain, spinal cord)
Where do stomach and gastric cancers metastasize?
Liver, vertebrae, abdominal cavity (intraperitoneum)
Where does thyroid cancer metastasize to?
Bone; nearby tissues of neck
Regional lymph nodes (neck, upper chest, mediastinum) Distant (lung, bone)
If it’s hard, immovable, and non-tender, what is it?
Cancer
True or false: Idiopathic proximal muscle weakness is a late sign of cancer.
False; Idiopathic proximal muscle weakness
referred to as carcinomatous neuromyopathy, is an EARLY warning sign of cancer
True or false; pain is always an early warning sign of cancer
False; Pain is rarely an early warning sign of
cancer, even in the presence of unexplained bleeding
What is the most serious of all skin cancers?
Malignant melanoma
Where do malignant melanomas arise from?
Pigmented cells in the skin
Where do squamous cell carcinomas arise from?
Arises from the top layer of dermis on area
exposed to the sun; ear, face, lip mouth
True or false; squamous cell carcinoma metastasis is uncommon
True
Which is the most common primary cancer to metastasize to the brain?
Lung
What are the first signs of lung cancer?
Pleural pain and dyspnea first signs
Sarcoma’s are specific to which body system?
Musculoskeletal tissue
What is the most common type of bone cancer?
Osteosarcoma.
Clinical signs and symptoms of Ewing sarcoma?
- increasing and persistent pain
- increasing and persistent swelling over a bone (by tumor)
- decrease in movement if a limb bone is involved
- fever
- fatigue
- weightloss
What are the clinical signs and symptoms of musculoskeletal cancers?
- Back or thigh pain
- Sciatica
- Bladder symptoms
- Unilateral edema
Clinical signs and symptoms of a brain tumor
- Increased intracranial pressure
- Headache, especially retroorbital; sometimes worse upon awakening, improves during the day
- Vomiting (with or without nausea)
-Visual changes (blurring, blind spots, diplopia, abnormal eye movements)
-Changes in mentation (impaired thinking, difficulty concentrating or reading, memory, or speech) - Personality change, irritability
- Unusual drowsiness, increased sleeping
- Seizures (without previous history)
-Sensory changes
-Muscle weakness or hemiparesis - Bladder dysfunction
- Increased lower extremity reflexes compared with upper extremity reflexes
- Decreased coordination, gait changes, ataxia
- Positive Babinski reflex
- Clonus (ankle or wrist)
- Vertigo, head tilt
Which cancers arise from bone marrow?
- Acute leukemias
- Chronic leukemias
- Multiple myelomas
What are the clinical signs and symptoms of acute and chronic leukemias?
- Infections, fever
- Abnormal bleeding
- Easy bruising of the skin
- Petechiae
- Epistaxis (nosebleeds) and/or bleeding gums Hematuria (blood in the urine)
- Rectal bleeding
- Weakness
- Easy fatigability
- Enlarged lymph nodes
- Bone and joint pain
- Weight loss
- Loss of appetite
- Pain or enlargement in the left upper abdomen (enlarged spleen)