Cancer Chemotherapy Overview - Ch 101-103

Question 1

What is Cancer?

Answer 1

• Cellular transformation (loss of function)
• Uncontrolled and/or rapid cellular growth
• Invasion into surrounding tissue
• Metastasis to other tissues or organs
  -by blood or lymphatic system

Question 2

Where can cancer develop?

Answer 2

Virtually any of the body’s tissues
-Categorized by organ origin or original cell type

Question 3

What contribute to cancer development?

Answer 3

Hereditary and environmental factors

Question 4

Neoplasm

Answer 4

“new Tissue”
Mass of new cells; tumour

Question 5

Benign

Answer 5

NON-cancerous
=Non-invasive + non-metastatic

Question 6

Malignant

Answer 6

Cancer
-Malignant neoplasm

Question 7

Primary lesion

Answer 7

Original site of growth

Question 8

Matastasis

Answer 8

Secondary lesion in a new, remote part of the body

Question 9

How does Chemotherapy kill cells?

Answer 9

Affects cell division/growth
-Not on loss of function, invasiveness or metastasis

Question 10

What kind of therapeutic index do chemotherapy drugs have?

Answer 10

Narrow therapeutic index
-ratio between concentration of drug that has
toxic effect and therapeutic effect is small

Question 11

What may develop with chemotherapy?

Answer 11

Drug resistance

Question 12

What are some Cytotoxic chemotherapy drug groups?

Answer 12

Alkylating agents and platinum compoud
Antimetabolite drugs
Antitumour antibiotics

Question 13

How are alkylating agents and platinum compounds cytotoxic?

Answer 13

Drugs form chemical bonds to DNA thus prevent DNA replication and cause cell death

Question 14

How are antimetabolite drugs cytotoxic?

Answer 14

Prevent synthesis of metabolites required for growth

Question 15

How are antitumour antibiotics (not for infections) cytotoxic?

Answer 15

Distort DNA structure

Question 16

What are cytotoxic drugs harmful to?

Answer 16

All dividing cells (cancerous cells) AND to healthy normal cells
-hair cells, GI cells, bone marrow cells

Question 17

What do nearly all cytotoxic drugs cause?

Answer 17

Significant adverse effects

Question 18

What adverse effects are associated with cytotoxic drugs?

Answer 18

Severe vomiting, nausea
Diarrhea, oral ulcers (GI mucosa damage)
Bone marrow suppression

Question 19

What can bone marrow suppression lead to?

Answer 19

Infection risk (neutropenia)
Bleeding risk (loss of circulating platelets)
Anemia

Question 20

Dose-limiting adverse effects may prevent what?

Answer 20

Drug being administered in high enough doses to actually kill cancer cells

Question 21

What is used to avoid chemo drug resistance/increased effectiveness?

Answer 21

Multiple drug therapy

Question 22

What other drugs (not cancer chemotherapy) are used in cancer treatment?

Answer 22

Hormones
Hormone antagonists
Biologic response modifiers e.g immunotherapy
Targeted drugs

Question 23

Targeted drugs

Answer 23

Bind to cancer-promoting molecules

Question 24

What are other cancer treatments?

Answer 24

Surgery (remove cancer tissue)
Radiation therapy

Question 25

Radiation therapy

Answer 25

High energy radiation damages cancer cell DNA causing it to die
-external radiation beam source
-internal source implanted into/near cancer