Cancer

Question 1

What is neoplasia?

Answer 1

New tissue growth that continues despite the absence of stimulus

Question 2

What is metaplasia?

Answer 2

The replacement of one type of cell with another type

Question 3

What is dysplasia?

Answer 3

Disordered growth

Question 4

What is carcinoma in situ?

Answer 4

When dysplasia involves the full thickness of the epithelium, but does not penetrate the basement membrane.

Question 5

What is an invasive tumour?

Answer 5

When tumour cells breach the basement membrane

Question 6

What is the difference between dysplasia and neoplasia?

Answer 6

Dysplasia: controlled abnormal growth

Does not always lead to neoplasia

Question 7

What is cancer?

Answer 7

Malignant tumours that have the potential to spread

Question 8

What is differentiation?

Answer 8

The appearance of cells compared to normal cells of the same tissue

Question 9

What is anaplasia?

Answer 9

A poorly differentiated tumour cell that does not function like normal tissue and has different morphology to normal tissue.

Question 10

What are the four features of anaplastic cells?

Answer 10

Pleomorphic
Hyperchromatic
Loss of polarity
Mitoses

Question 11

What is pleomorphy?

Answer 11

Continual variation in size, shape, and number

Question 12

What is hypertrophy?

Answer 12

Increase in size of a cell

Question 13

What is hyperplasia?

Answer 13

Increase in the number of cells

Question 14

What happens when a cell loses polarity?

Answer 14

Cells are no longer anchored to the basement membrane, which causes disordered growth

Question 15

What is the significance of mitosis in anaplastic cells?

Answer 15

An abnormal number of cells undergo mitosis

Question 16

What are the ways of classifying tumours?

Answer 16

Aetiology
Organ of origin
Benign/malignant
Tissue/cell of origin

Question 17

What is a benign tumour?

Answer 17

A tumour that does not invade or spread to other tissues

Question 18

What are the features of benign tumours?

Answer 18

Do not invade
Do not metastasise
Histologically similar to the parent cell
Low growth rate with few mitotic cells
Form polyps in hollow organs

Question 19

What are malignant tumours?

Answer 19

Tumours that are invasive and grow irregularly into the surrounding tissue

Question 20

What are the features of malignant tumours?

Answer 20

Poorly confined
Dissimilar to parent cell
Have central necrosis and have ulcerated surfaces

Question 21

What is necrosis?

Answer 21

Death of most or all of the cells in an organ or tissue due to disease

Question 22

Why is classification by cell of origin not typically used?

Answer 22

It is difficult to identify which cell exactly is the cell of origin

Question 23

What is a carcinoma?

Answer 23

epithelial tissue

Question 24

What is a sarcoma?

Answer 24

connective tissue

Question 25

What is the classification of a benign tumour?

Answer 25

OMA suffix

Question 26

What is a high-grade tumour?

Answer 26

Poorly differentiated and aggressive tumours

Question 27

What is metastasis?

Answer 27

The development of secondary malignant growths at a distance from the primary site of cancer

Question 28

What is T in cancer scaling?

Answer 28

Tumour size, where 0 = carcinoma in situ, then 1-4

Question 29

What is N in cancer scaling?

Answer 29

How many regional lymph nodes are involved

Question 30

What is M in cancer scaling?

Answer 30

How many distant metastases exist

Question 31

What environmental factors cause cancer?

Answer 31

Smoking
Diet and obesity
Exposure to carcinogens
Reproductive history
Infectious agents (e.g. HPV)

Question 32

How does the incidence of cancer vary?

Answer 32

Geography
Age
Race
Genetics