Therapeutic Options for CANCER Flashcards
What are the two options for dealing with cancer
Prevention
Treatment
What 5 areas are used for prevention
- right diet
- Screening for early signs
- Genetic testing
- Preventative Meds
- Not smoking or drinking
What foods are linked to cancer?
Red meat to CRC
Saturated Fat with breast cancer
What is the current advice to reduce cancer risk
5 fruit/vegetables a day
Avoid obesity
Exercise at least 30mins/day
What kind of screening is used for cervical canceR?
smear tests
Whats the use of screening in cancer prevention?
Allows early identification in risk groups
How do we screen for CRC?
faecal blood tests
Whats mammography used to screen?
Breast Cancer
What genes are used to identify familial predisposition to breast cancer?
BRCA1 & BRCA2 genes
(BReastCAncer gene 1/2)
What other cancers can people have a familial prdispostion to?
CRC
FAP (Familial Adenomatous Polyposis)
What is familial adenomatous polyposis?
Inherited condition
Numerous adenomatous polyps (small growths) form in epithelium of large intestine
Can become colon cancer
Why is preventative chemo so controversial?
Decreases quality of life
Harsh treatment
Why does surgical treatment need anatomical clearance?
Cancer will grow back from small portion left behind
How is radiotherapy used in conjunction with surgery?
Radiotherapy reduces inoperable tumour size then surgery removes it once operable.
Radiotherapy requires anatomical coverage. What is anatomical coverage?
Treatment must cover (effect) entire tumour
One untreated area will continue to grow & spread
How is radiotherapy useful when you dont intend to remove the tumour?
Allows you to maintain normal function & appearance of tissue without getting rid of tumour
What is palliation?
Improving symptoms without curing cause
=What are the 5 Rs of radiotherapy?
- Radiosensitivity
- Repair
- Re-population
- Re-oxygenation
- Re-assortment
What treatments work together with radiotherapy?
- Surgery
- Chemotherapy
Name 4 types of systemic cancer treatment:
Hormonal Therapy
Immunotherapy
Chemotherapy
Whole Body Irradiation
What kind of cancer is systemic treatment used for
Widespread cancers
(Cancer that spreads from origin to distant part of body)
What is the main drawback of systemic cancer treatment?
Widespread toxicity
Chemo is a cytotoxic drug, what forms is it used in?
Chemo can be used as-
- curative
- palliative
- adjuvant
- neo-adjuvant
How often is chemo used curatively?
5% of cancer cases
What is the purpose of adjuvant chemo?
Improve patients odds of survival after surgery
Suppress secondary tumours from arising
What is the purpose of palliative chemo?
Relieve symptoms without solving underlying cause
How often is palliative chemo sued?
50% of chemo usage is palliative
Why must we be very careful when using palliative chemo?
Important to do more good than harm when not curing the disease
What effect does palliative chemo have on survival rates?
Sometimes improves survival
Whats the purpose of neoadjuvant chemo?
Improve survival & reduce morbidity in cancer patients
Usually used to shrink tumours before surgery
Whats the difference between adjuvant & neoadjuvant chemo?
Neoadjuvant chemo precedes surgery & radiotherapy whereas adjuvant procedes it.
what is hormone therapy used for?
preventing cancer in high risk groups.
What are the 3 types of immune therapies for cancer?
- Monoclonal antibodies
- Programmed cell death pathway (PD-1)
- Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells.
How does PD-1 work?
Artificial antibodies target & block PD-1 receptor so tumour cells cant activate it
T cells attack tumour cells
How do chimeric antigen receptor t cells work?
Retroviral vectors (gene transfer carrier systems) give T cells DNA to produce artificial receptors and give killing function directed against cancer cells
What are designer therapies?
Specific & based on intracellular growth control points
Define staging:
Process determines how much cancer in body & where it is
What does staging base the severity of a persons cancer on
Magnitude of primary tumour
Extent of spread throughout body
What are the 4 parts of staging?
Examination
Radiology/Imaging
Classification
Genomics (in the future)
