What is cancer? Flashcards
What type of cancers do children get?
Blood, brain and bone (not epithelial).
What lymph nodes does testicular cancer spread to and why?
Para-aortic nodes due to embryology (starts in abdomen).
Where do breast cancers metastasise to?
Bone, brain, adrenal, liver.
Where does prostate cancer metastasise to?
Anywhere.
What is the defining feature of sarcomas?
Local growth.
Is lymphatic spread common in sarcomas?
No, it is very rare.
What types of tumours form spindle cell lesions and what are they?
Sarcomas, very long elongated tapered shape to cells.
What patterns do sarcomas tend to follow?
The ones in textbooks.
What are the common genetic anomalies in sarcomas?
Specific large translocations.
What is the translocation in Ewing’s sarcoma?
t(11;22).
What do the nuclei of sarcomas look like?
Cigar shaped.
What is the differences between lymphomas and leukaemias?
Same cells different locations.
Where do lymphomas tend to pop up?
Large lymph nodes (often superficial) across areas that don’t fit with anatomical drainage of an epithelial malignancy.
What organs may lymphomas involve?
The liver and spleen (organomegaly).
What are the symptoms of bone marrow involvement of lymphoma?
Malignant cells replace everything else so you make less red cells, platelets, granulocytes and normal B cells.
