Surgical oncology

Question 1

gold standard of staging CAs?

Answer 1

pathologic staging (biopsy)

Question 2

what makes pancreatic CA so nasty?

Answer 2

hard to operate on due to heavy blood supply/important NV structures

Question 3

chemo vs radiation therapy?

Answer 3

chemo goes everywhere in the body whereas radiation is like a light beam (more localized treatment)

Question 4

neoadjuvant vs adjuvant therapy?

Answer 4

• neoadjuvant is chemo given before surgery to see if it makes the tumor smaller
• adjuvant is therapy after surgical resection

Question 5

General CA staging

Answer 5

**varies per CA
TNM- tumor, nodes, metastasis
Tis (in situ), T1-4, N0-N2, M0-M2
If staged B, then always worse
Metastatic is always stage 4

Question 6

origin of carcinoma vs sarcoma vs lymphoma/leukemia

Answer 6

carcinoma: epithelial
sarcoma: connective tissue
lymphoma: blood cell

Question 7

how do they spread: carcinoma vs sarcoma?

Answer 7

carcinoma: lymph nodes
sarcoma: through blood

Question 8

carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma types?

Answer 8

C: lung, breast, colon prostate
S: osteosarcoma, liposarcoma
L: hodgkin’s, childhood leukemia

Question 9

carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma treatments?

Answer 9

C: surgery, chemo and radiation
S: surgery (wide local resection vs amputation) and adjuvant radiation
L: mostly chemo (some radiation and surgery)

Question 10

how does pancreatic CA usually present?

Answer 10

painless jaundice (CA around bile duct) or incidental

Question 11

types of biopsies? (4)

Answer 11

Punch, shave, excisional (tumor cut out), incisional (small sample taken)

Question 12

which biopsy type is best for melanoma? why?

Answer 12

punch bc can see depth of tumor

Question 13

how is MR helpful for sarcoma staging?

Answer 13

MR tells you about muscle layers