Onc key points Flashcards
What classification is used in staging most solid tumors?
TNM
What does each letter represent in TNM and what numbers can each have?
T: extent of local invasion, 1-4
N: degree of locoregional lymph node involvement, 0-3
M: presence or absence of mets, 0-1
What term refers to a patient’s well-being and ability to perform ADL?
Performance status
How often is chronologic age a major contraindication to aggressive cancer therapy?
Rarely, if ever
Why is it so important to acknowledge that the disease in incurable in patients with incurable cancer?
This is a dumb question… sorry. But really it leads to appropriate use of analgesics and other comfort-oriented measures.
What does overall survival refer to?
Time from initiation of therapy until death
Overall survival is often quoted as what statistic from a published study?
Medial survival time for a population of pts
What does progression free survival refer to?
Time from initiation of therapy until time therapy is no longer controlling tumor growth
What’s another name for progression free survival?
Progression free interval
Can you correlate PFS w/ OS?
Not really- PFS doesn’t intrinsically indicate improved OS
What does overall response rate mean?
Percentage of pts in a clinical trial whose tumor undergoes a prespecified degree of shrinkage on imaging
What is the primary treatment for locoregional solid tumor malignancies? What 2 things can it be combined with to potentially increase cure rate?
Surgical resection.
Chemo or XRT
When is adjuvant therapy given in relation to definitive surgery? What about neoadjuvant?
Adjuvant is given after, neo before
What is the purpose of giving adjuvant or neoadjuvant therapy with definitive surgery with curative intent in solid tumor patients?
To eradicate micrometastatic disease
What’s the difference btwn predictive assays and prognostic assays for cancer?
Predictive assays ID who’s at risk for CA recurrence and who will benefit from Tx, while prognostic assays can ID who’s at risk for recurrence, but not who will benefit from treatment.
What’s the goal of personalized medicine in onc?
To direct therapeutic approached that are optimally beneficial to an individual patient through a better understanding of the molecular makeup of the individual and the tumor.
What percent of women with breast cancer are older than 40?
95%
Which ethnic group has the highest incidence of breast cancer? Second highest?
First: non-hispanic white women. Second: black women
What additional referral should you make in women with a strong family history of breast cancer?
Genetic counselor for possible genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility genes
What groups of women are candidates for medical breast cancer Ppx (3)?
Women older than 35 with either
- 5 yr breast cancer risk of 1.7% or higher
- LCIS
- Atypical ductal hyperplasia
For women who are candidates for medical breast cancer Ppx, what drug would you give to the premenopausal ones? What are the 3 options for postmenopausal ones?
Pre: tamoxifen
Post: tamoxifen, raloxifene, or exemestane
What are 2 prophylactic surgical options for BRCA1/2 mutation carriers?
BL mastectomy
BSO
By how much will a prophylactic BL mastectomy decrease breast cancer risk in women who are BRCA1/2 carriers?
90% decreased risk
By how much will a prophylactic BSO decrease ovarian cancer risk in women who are BRCA1/2 carriers?
80% decreased risk
4 clinical features a/w a more favorable prognosis of early-stage breast cancer?
- Hormone-receptor positive cancer
- Small tumor size
- Low tumor grade
- Negative nodes
In women with stage 1 or 2 breast cancer, when would you perform imaging to ID occult metastatic disease?
If they have Sx worrisome for mets
How is early-stage breast cancer defined?
Stage 1 or 2
2 general treatment options for DCIS?
Breast-conserving therapy or mastectomy
What are 2 scenarios in which you’d use mastectomy instead of breast-conserving therapy for DCIS?
Extensive disease
Clear margins can’t be obtained by a wide excision
What drug is useful as adjuvant therapy in ER+ DCIS?
Tamoxifen
In ER+ DCIS, how does adjuvant tamoxifen affect:
- risk of local recurrence of DCIS
- risk of invasive cancer
- risk of contralateral breast cancer
- overall survival
- risk of local recurrence of DCIS: decrease by 20-25%
- risk of invasive cancer: decrease by 20-25%
- risk of contralateral breast cancer: decrease by 50%
- overall survival: no change
For breast-conserving therapy to be effective in invasive breast cancer, describe the size requirements, quadrant involvement, and margins?
Tumor of 5 cm or less; involves a single quadrant of the breast; clear margins s/p excision
Which women with invasive breast cancer require mastectomy instead of breast cancer (5)?
- Tumor involvement of skin or chest wall
- Tumor greater than 5 cm that can’t be shrunk preop with other methods
- Tumor in more than one quadrant
- Inflammatory breast cancer
- Women unable to undergo XRT
Which invasive breast cancer patients need chest wall XRT s/p mastectomy?
- Tumor greater than 5 cm
- Positive margins
- Skin or chest wall involvement
- Inflammatory breast cancer
- Positive axillary nodes
In women with ER or PR+ breast cancer, by how much does antiestrogen therapy decrease risk of local and distant recurrence and of contralateral breast cancer?
Local and distant recurrence: by 40-50%
Contralateral breast cancer: by 50-65%
How long should women with hormone-receptor positive breast cancer take adjuvant tamoxifen?
10 yr
What additional drug should be included in women with hormone-receptor positive breast cancer who are either postmenopausal at diagnosis or become postmenopausal after first 2-3 yr of tamoxifen therapy?
Aromatase inhibitor
Which breast cancer patients benefit most from adjuvant chemo: those with hormone receptor + or - cancer?
Hormone receptor negative cancer benefit most
A combo of two medical therapies are needed in patients w/ a HER2+ breast tumor 0.5 cm or larger?
Adjuvant chemo plus trastuzumab
In women with HER2+ breast tumor 0.5 cm or larger, the addition of trastuzumab to standard adjuvant chemo decreases the risk of recurrence by ___ and the risk of breast cancer-related death by ___.
53%, 34%
Which subtype of breast cancer is characterized by erythema and edema of the skin of the breast, resembling an orange peel?
Inflammatory breast cancer
How is inflammatory breast cancer diagnosed?
Based on the clinical appearance of the breast
What additional staging is done in patients with inflammatory breast cancer (vs only in some w/ invasive breast CA) due to the high risk of mets (2)?
CT and bone scan
Describe treatment of inflammatory breast cancer (super general)
Neoadjuvant chemo-> surgery-> XRT
How often should follow-up monitoring occur in pts w/ early-stage breast CA?
First 2 yr: q3-6 mo
Years 2-5: q6 mo
After 5 yr: annually
Describe frequency of follow-up mammograms in breast cancer survivors? Who gets MRI?
Annual mammos for all. Only do MRI in those @ high risk of recurrence.
Which breast cancer survivors get surveillance blood tests and imaging other than mammo or MRI?
Only those with Sx or findings of disease