Principles of Cancer Treatment Flashcards
When assessing performance status in a cancer patient, is a higher or lower PS score indicative of a sicker patient?
Higher score = more sick
(0 = fully active, 4 = completely disabled)
Define “adjuvant chemotherapy” in cancer treatment
Chemotherapy given after surgery to “mop up” microscopic metastases/residual disease
Are tumors with higher or lower growth fraction more sensitive to chemotherapy?
The higher the growth fraction, the more sensitive the tumor is to chemotherapy
Briefly describe the goals of curative, palliative, and adjuvant therapies in cancer treatment
- Curative: total eradication of cancer cells
- Palliative: alleviation of symptoms, improved quality/length of life
- Adjuvant: eradicate microscopic cancer metastases after surgery to prevent recurrence
Which cancer treatment increases the number of the patients T-cells and augments them to be specifically targeted to their cancer cells?
CAR-T therapy
Define “growth fraction” in relation to tumors
The percentage of cancer cells that are in active growth/proliferation phase
Define “primary chemotherapy” in cancer treatment
Chemotherapy is used as the sole anti-cancer treatment in highly sensitive tumor types
Define “neoadjuvant therapy” in cancer treatment
Chemotherapy given before surgery to shrink tumor to a resectable size
Why are patients with chronic myeloid leukemia a good candidate for targeted immunotherapy?
99% of CML cases result from only one gene mutation (Philadelphia gene)
Drugs (Gleevec) can target that specific mutation
In principles of cancer treatment, the best treatment is …
Prevention
Define “concurrent chemotherapy” in cancer treatment
Chemotherapy given simultaneous to radiation to increase sensitivity of cancer cells to radiation
Which cancer treatment allow the patient’s T cells to recognise cancer cells and kill them?
PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors (immunotherapy/immune checkpoint inhibitors)
Which cancer treatment utilizes exogenous antibodies to bind a patients T-cells to cancer cells?
Bispecific antibody therapy
Most common malignancy in men aged 15 to 35
Testicular cancer
