Oncology and Gastroenterology Flashcards
Steps in the diagnostic work up of the cancer patient
- History
- Physical Exam
- Medical Imaging
- FNA and Cytology
- Biopsy
- Histopathology
Clinical Stage
Physical extent of the tumor
- Size of the primary tumor
- anatomical location of metastases
- Tumor size
- Nodal Metastasis
- Distant Metastasis
Histiological grade
Histiological scoring by pathologist
Stage
Extent of body affected, determined by clinician with diagnostic tests
What do you use a CT scan for with Oncology?
pulmonary metastases
Bony invasion
radiation treatment planning
What do you use MRI for with Oncology?
Neurological diagnosis
Surgical planning
What do you use nuclear scintigraphy for with oncology?
bony metastases
When would you perform a non-aspiration sampling technique for Oncology?
Lymph nodes
round cell tumors
highly vascular tumors
When would you perform an aspiration sampling technique for oncology?
Hard/firm lesions
very small lesions where multiple passes are impossible
second attempt
What would you perform a new methylene blue stain on?
mast cell tumors
lipomas
Biopsy
removal of a small piece of tissue for laboratory examination
Incisional biopsy
biopsy of a selected portion of a lesion
Excisional biopsy
removal of a mass primarily for diagnostic purposes
When would you perform an incisional biopsy?
when the therapy is determined by tumor type
when extent of resection is determined by tumor type
when planning is needed because tumor is in a difficult area to reconstruct
when tumor type and predicted behavior would affect the decision to treat
What are the indications for Chemotherapy?
Patients with measurable tumor known to be sensitive to chemo
Adjunct therapy to suppress occult micro-metastasis after local therapy
Palliative non-resectable or metastatic cancer
to downstage/reduce a chemosensitive tumor before definitive therapy
to sensitize tissues to radiation
Growth fraction
proportion of cells that are proliferating/active in the cell cycle
Cell loss factor
sloughing, necrosis , and apoptosis
Goldie Coldman Hypothesis
once the tumor has reached one million cells, it is likely that chemo resistant cells have developed due to mutations
When is chemotherapy most effective?
during the rapid growth of the tumor
What have we learned from the Goldie Coldman Hypothesis?
Chemo should be initiated early in the course of disease
a protocol containing multiple agents is ideal
What are the “BAG” of adverse effects of Chemo?
B - Bone Marrow toxicity
A - Alopecia
G - Gastrointestinal effects
At what point would we administer prophylactic antibiotics with chemo?
less than 1,000 WBC/uL
What chemo causes the most vomiting?
Cisplatin
What are the anti-emetics used to combat the vomiting associated with chemotherapy?
Meropitant
Metaclopramide
Ondanzetron