Cancer Therapies Flashcards
What are the major modalities of cancer therapy?
Surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy
What is the first goal of cancer treatment?
To eradicate the cancer
What is the second goal of cancer treatment?
Palliation; preserve patient’s quality of life
What are the factors that increase operative risk in cancer patients?
Age
Comorbid conditions
Debilitation due to cancer
Paraneoplastic syndromes
What is cytoreduction?
Surgery to reduce burden of tumour, but not all of the tumour is removed
What is palliative surgery?
Surgery to relieve the symptoms of cancer
What are the four types of radiation therapy?
External beam
Stereotactic
Brachytherapy
Systemic radioactive isotopes
What is the goal of chemo?
Selective toxicity, when toxicity is produced in the cancer cell without an effect in the host cell
What is the therapeutic index?
Ratio of dose required to produce toxic effect to dose required to produce desired effect/
What are other cancer therapies?
Hormonal Mabs Vaccines Antiangiogenesis drugs Biological response modifiers
What are biological response modifiers?
Using the body’s immune system to target cancer cells, e.g. interferons, interleukins and ipilimimab
What are the cytotoxic chemo treatments?
Antimetabolites
Alkylating agents
Antitumour Antibiotics and Topoisomerase poisons
What type of cancer is hormonal therapy most effective for?
Prostate cancer, because it grows in response to androgens
What are differentiating drugs?
Trans-retinoic acid drugs
What is the mechanism of resistance for cytotoxic drugs?
Overexpression of MDR-1 gene
