treating cancers by knowing about their pathology

Question 1

when can a cancer be treated by local excision and give an example of cancer type that can always be treated in this way?

Answer 1

• when it only spreads locally and has not or does not spread to other areas of the body
• basal cell carcinomas

Question 2

name a type of cancer that can never be treated by local excision and needs whole-body therapy.

Answer 2

white blood cells - leukemia

Question 3

why is tumour staging important?

Answer 3

it tells you how far the tumour has spread so you know what treatment plan to take

Question 4

briefly outline the different stages of tumour and what they mean.

Answer 4

• Stage 0:
  Also called carcinoma in situ.
  Cancer cells are present but confined to the layer of cells where they originated. They have not invaded deeper tissues or spread.
• Stage I:
  Early-stage cancer.
  The tumor is small, localized, and has not spread to lymph nodes or other organs.
• Stage II:
  Larger tumor size or local spread.
  May involve nearby lymph nodes but no distant metastasis.
• Stage III:
  Advanced cancer with significant regional spread.
  Tumor may involve multiple lymph nodes or invade nearby structures, but it has not metastasized to distant organs.
• Stage IV:
  Metastatic cancer.
  Cancer has spread to distant parts of the body, such as the liver, lungs, bones, or brain.

Question 5

what does the term metastatic cancer mean?

Answer 5

• cancer that has spread to a distant part of the body
• you would call the spread cancer metastatic cancer
• eg if the cancer spreads from breast to bone - you wouldn’t call it bone cancer you would call it metastatic cancer

Question 6

what treatment is used if cancer has spread to other parts of the body metastatically?

Answer 6

chemotherapy