Oncological conditions Flashcards
What is cancer?
Cancer refers to a group of diseases in which there is
out-of-control growth and spread of abnormal cell
What are the types of cancer?
- Solid Tumors
* Hematological
What is the name of a cancer depend on its cell origin?
• Sarcoma – connective tissue, muscle, bone
• Carcinoma – epithelial tissue (glands, hollow
organs, outer layer of skin that lines the blood
vessels)
What are the most common childhood malignancy?
- Leukaemia ( most common )
- Solid tumours
- Lymphomas
Leukaemia
- Acute Lymphochytic Leukemia
* Acute Myelogenous Leukemia
Solid tumours
• Brain Tumours
Lymphomas
- Hodgkin’s Disease
* Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
What are the common symptoms of leukemia?
Systemic
- weight loss
- fever
- frequent infections
Lungs
- easy shortness of breath
Muscular
- weakness
Bones or joints
- Pain or tenderness
Psychological
- Fatigue
- Loss of appetite
Lymph nodes
- Swelling
Spleen and/or liver
- Enlargement
Skin
- Night sweats
- Easy bleeding and bruising
- Purplish patches or spots
What are the other childhood malignancy?
Neuroblastoma • Nerual crest cells: brain, adrenal medulla, pelvis, mediastinum and sympathetic ganglia Sarcoma • Soft tissue sarcoma – Mesenchymal cells in skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, fat fibrous tissue, bone and cartilage • Rhabdomyosarcoma Wilm’s Tumor • Nephroblastoma (Kidney) Bone Tumor • Osteosarcoma
What are the treatment modalities?
- Surgery
- Chemotherapy
- Radiation therapy
- Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
- Biological response modifiers
- A combination of these modalities is a frequently use
What are the surgery for cancer?
- Remove all visible and microscopic malignant cell
- Obtain biopsy for microscopical diagnosis
- Tumor staging
- Reconstructive surgery – correct defects
- Insertion of venous access devices
- Palliative: Relieve pain and obstruction
Chemotherapy for cancer
• Most frequently used treatment
• Effective for systemic cancers that cannot be managed by surgery or radiation
therapy
Chemotherapy drugs categories
- Alkylating agents
- Antimetabolites
- Anti-tumor antibiotics
- Plant alkaloids
- Enzymes
- Miscellaneous agents
What are the side effects of chemotherapy?
- Hematopoietic: Myelosuppression, anemia, thrombocytopenia, neutropenia
- Gastrointestinal: Mucositis
- Hepatic: Liver toxicity
- Renal: Renal Toxicity
- Integumentary: Alopecia
- Reproductive: Oligomenorrhea
What is radiation therapy?
• Deliver a dose of ionizing radiation to a tumor with minimal effects to the healthy
surrounding tissue
• External Beam
• Brachytherapy