Neoplasia Flashcards
What does benign mean?
A neoplasm that is localised and cannot spread
What is a neoplasm?
Abnormal mass of tissue, the growth of which exceeds and is uncoordinated with that of the normal tissues and persists in the same excessive manner after cessation of the stimuli which evoked the change
How is a neoplasm formed?
By clonal expansion of a single precursor cell that has a survival advantage over its neighbours.
Thus over time it will proliferate.
What is the pre-tumour stage?
Where neoplastic mutations are present, but have not yet given rise to a tumour.
These are typically clinically silent.
What are some problems that benign neoplasms can cause?
1) Compression (EG: meningeal neoplasm)
2) Obstruction (EG: bile duct neoplasm)
3) Bleeding (EG: colon neoplasm)
4) Hormone secretion (EG: thyroid neoplasm)
5) Cosmetic effects (EG: skin neoplasm)
6) Progression to malignancy
What is an adenoma?
A benign tumour of glandular origin
What is in situ neoplasia?
Where some cells de novo or in a benign tumour start to have mutations that give a malignant capacity.
Eventually the malignant phenotype comes to dominate the tissue, but NOT yet invaded the basement membrane.
“Pre-cancerous”
Clinically silent lesions.
What are the hallmarks of cancer?
1) Enabling replicative immortality
2) Destabilising cellular energetics
3) Evading growth suppressors
4) Sustaining proliferative signalling
5) Inducing angiogenesis
6) Avoiding the immune system
7) Activating invasion and metastasis
8) Genome instability and mutation
9) Tumour-promoting inflammation
10) Resisting cell death
What are the main routes of tumour metastasis?
1) Lymphatics
2) Blood vessels (Deposits in organs of high blood flow)
3) Serious cavities (EG: peritoneal or pleural cavity)
What are the most common sites for metastasis?
Lung, liver, bone marrow, brain, kidney, and adrenal gland
What are paraneoplastic syndromes?
Rare disorders that are triggered by an altered immune system response to a neoplasm.
They are defined as clinical syndromes involving nonmetastatic systemic effects that accompany malignant disease.
Can be hormone-mediated (EG: Cushing sydrome) OR immunologically-mediated (EG: Lambert-Eaton syndrome)
Sessile, pedunculated, and papillary tumours tend to be….
Benign
Fungating, ulcerated and annular tumours tend to be….
Malignant
Carcinoma is….
Sarcoma is….
A malignant neoplasm of epithelial origin
A malignant neoplasm of mesenchymal origin
What is the difference between grade and stage?
Grade is the degree of histological resemblance to the parent tissue (Degree of DIFFERENTIATION)
Stage is the extent of anatomical spread (Degree of TUMOUR SPREAD)
