Neoplasia Lecture

Question 1

What is the process of Neoplasia?

Answer 1

The process that creates abnormal &/or uncontrolled growth of new tissue.

Question 2

Why is Neoplasia bad for the body?

Answer 2

This growth has no coordinated or useful function for the body

Question 3

How do neoplasms utilize the endocrine system?

Answer 3

They can grow further with endocrine support from their primary tissue (glands), if hormone secretion stops the cancer can cease to grow

Question 4

Compare Neoplasia with Hyperlasia

Answer 4

Neoplasia:
- Spontaneously arise without cause
- If a stimulus is the cause, this stimulus is also abnormal (chemical, toxin etc)
- Once started will continue to progress with no stopping/end point.
- Base cells are changed – morphologically changed in character. Display aberrant function.

Question 5

Neoplasia arises due to….

Answer 5

genetic mutation

Question 6

What are the two main types of genetic mutation ?

Answer 6

Oncogenes and Tumour Suppressor Genes

Question 7

What are oncogenes?

Answer 7

abnormal genes arising from normal genes that regulate cell growth and division, and angiogenesis

Question 8

What are Tumour Suppressor Genes?

Answer 8

Particular genes are responsible for detecting DNA damage or inappropriate growth during cell division and help repair DNA

Damage or dysfunction of these genes allows a more rapid development of oncogenes, increasing the risk of cancer developing

Question 9

What Populations of cells are most likely to become neoplastic

Answer 9

Cells that turn over frequently (skin, gastrointestinal, respiratory)

Question 10

Why are muscle and neurons least likely to become neoplastic ?

Answer 10

Because their turn over is minimal

Question 11

What environmental factors could increase the risk of cancer?

Answer 11

Infections (primarily viral but may be parasitic or bacterial)
Radiation
Drugs/chemicals (e.g. smoking, asbestos)
Dietary substances (e.g. high-fat diet, alcohol)
Co-existing diseases (e.g. chronic inflammation)

Question 12

What are Benign Neoplasia ?

Answer 12

Non Invasive - they do not become metastatic, invade or break free
They stay localised and generally has good prognosis

Question 13

When do benign neoplasias become life threatening?

Answer 13

If it causes pressure on a vital structure (e.g. artery) or if they are glandular and interfere with normal hormone production

Question 14

Why do Malignant neoplasias have poor prognoses?

Answer 14

• Invasive
• No capsule
• High probability it will metastasise

Question 15

What does anaplasia refer to?

Answer 15

Lack of differentiation in neoplastic cells.

Question 16

Why do malignant neoplasms metastasise?

Answer 16

Cancer cells are poorly held together. They have poor stromal support and fragile blood vessels. This fragile arrangement allows for increased collapse of the vascular system and increased necrosis.

Question 17

How does cancer spread?

Answer 17

When cancer cells invade lymph/blood vessels, small pieces of tumour material/cells can also break off and travel around the body. This takes the cancer to “distant” areas where it may lodge in new tissue and begin further expansion.

Question 18

What is the TNM Cancer Staging ?

Answer 18

TNM Staging allows staging of malignant tumours
It stands for:
Tumour Size
Lymph Node
Metastasis

Question 19

Describe the Stages of cancer:

Answer 19

Stage 0 -
cancers are still located in the place they started , highly curable, usually by removing the entire tumour with surgery.

Stage 1 -
small cancer or tumour that has not grown deeply into nearby tissues and has not spread

Stage 2 and 3 -
indicate cancers or tumours that are larger in size, have grown more deeply into nearby tissue, and have spread to lymph nodes , but not to other parts of the body.

Stage 4
the cancer has spread to other organs or parts of the body.

Question 20

Which cancers are known to commonly metastasise to bone?

Answer 20

Breast (Both blastic and lytic lesions)
Prostate (blastic)
Lung (lytic)
Thyroid
Kidneys