Lectures Flashcards
State some factors affecting choice of treatment
- Metastasis (staging)
- Performance status
- 0 = asymptomatic; well
- 1= symptomatic; able to do light work
- 2= has to rest but for 50% of the day
- 4= bed bound
- Tumour type
- Patients wishes and options
- Aims of therapy (curative/palliative-supportive care)
Causes of lung cancer
¬ TOBACCO ¬ Asbestos ¬ Environmental radon ¬ Other occupational exposure ¬ Chromates, Hydrocarbons, Nickel ¬ Air pollution and Urban environment ¬ Other radiation ¬ Pulmonary fibrosis
Symptoms of lung cancer; common and also less common symptoms
- Cough (chronic, recurrent)
- Fatigue
- Weight loss
- Short of breath
- Haemoptysis
- Chest pain
- Recurrent/persistent chest infections
¥ Wheeze ¥ Hoarse voice ¥ Dysphagia ¥ Fever ¥ Face swelling
state the problems of primary lung cancer
¥ Probably grows ‘clinically silent’ for many years
¥ Presents LATE in its natural history
¥ May have few, if any, signs or symptoms until the disease is very advanced
¥ May be found incidentally, during investigation for something unrelated
¥ Generally speaking, symptomatic lung cancer is fatal. Too late to be treated.
name four oncogenes that are not induced by smoking
ALK, BRAF, HER2, EDFR
state some local effects of lung cancer
4 categories
Bronchial Obstruction: ¥ Collapse ¥ Endogenous Lipoid Pneumonia ¥ Infection / Abscess ¥ Bronchiectasis – abnormal widening of airways which are at risk of infection.
Pleural
¥ Inflammatory
¥ Malignant
Direct Invasion
¥ Chest Wall
¥ Nerves
¥ Mediastinum (SVC, Pericardium)
Lymph Node Metastases
what is the prevalence of small cell lung cancers and non small cell lung cancers
Non-small cell lung cancer ~85%
o Squamous 30%; adenocarcinoma 55%; large cell undifferentiated ~5% and others ‘not otherwise specified’ or NOS
Small cell lung cancer - 15%
when is adjuvant therapy used?
¥ POSTOPERATIVE; to increase chance of cure
¥ Detrimental in stages I and II (better for more progressive tumours)
¥ Some benefits in later stages
¥ Cisplatin+vinorelbine 5-year survival improved by 15% at 5 years
ADjuvant - ADD on to the operation
When is neoadjuvant therapy used?
¥ Proven to be very beneficial in stage III
¥ Used before surgery to reduce size of tumour to increase chances of operability
NEOadjuvant - before surgery
What are targeted drugs?
Drugs that are used when a patient with lung cancer has a specific gene mutation.
These drugs can radically improve a patients situation even if they were late staged.
These drugs should only used on patients with the mutation as the drugs can decrease survival rates of lung cancer patients without the mutation.
Bone pain in lung cancer patients
- what percentage of cancer patients experience this?
- when is the pain worst?
- what is the treatment?
¥ ~50% of cancer patients have tumors in bone.
¥ Often worse at night
¥ Pathological fracture will give symptoms.
¥ Vertebral metastasis can compress the spinal cord
¥ Treatment – palliative RT
What are the four factors which have to be considered when staging lung cancer?
¥ Clinical history/examination
¥ Performance status
¥ Pulmonary function
¥ TNM International system for staging Lung Cancer
- Stage of disease (I->IV)
- Classification: type of cancer
- markers/oncogenes/gene expression profiles
Briefly describe the four stages of cancer
¥ Stage 1usually means thata cancer is relatively small and contained within the organ it started in.
¥ Stage 2usually means the cancer has not started to spread into surrounding tissue but the tumour is larger than in stage 1. Sometimes stage 2 means that cancer cells have spread into lymph nodes close to the tumour. This depends on the particular type of cancer.
¥ Stage 3usually means the cancer is larger. It may have started to spread into surrounding tissues and there are cancer cells in the lymph nodes in the area.
¥ Stage 4means the cancer has spread from where it started to another body organ. This is also called secondary or metastatic cancer.
what do the following mean:
TX
T0
Tis
TX Primary tumour cannot be assessed (X means tumour is blocked and therefore can’t be assessed)
T0 no evidence of primary tumour (0 means no tumour)
Tis carcimona in situ
T What are the different size cut offs for the different stages. 1a, 1b, 1c 2a, 2b 3 4
1a 7cm and/or invades one of the following mediastinum, diaphragm, pericardium, recurrent laryngeal nerve, great vessels, vertebral bodies, oesophagus, carina
What is primary cancer?
when the cancer starts in the lungs and hasn’t spread from somewhere else in the body
State an oncogene which is induced by smoking
KRAS
What are the two most common oncogene addictions
KRAS and EGRF
What percentage of patients have KRAS mutation
35%
What percentage of patients have the EGRF mutation?
15%
What percentage of patients have the ALK rearrangement, HER 2 and BRAF mutations?
2% each
Where in the lungs are adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinoma found?
adenocarcinomas - peripheral of lungs
squamous cell carcinomas - central airways of lungs
Who are most affected by adenocarcinomas ?
non smokers and women
Which oncogene mutation has a poor prognosis?
KRAS
Name 6 causes of tumours in the lungs (including rare causes)
benign
carcinoid tumour
bronchial gland tumour
lymphoma
sarcoma
metastasis
Name two other sources of opacities on CXR
infection (bacterial- TB, fungal)
vascular haematoma
What treatment does ALK rearrangements usually respond to ?
EGFR treatment
What are the two main type of primary lung cancer ?
NSCLC and SCLC