Cancer Treatment Flashcards
What are the 6 modes of cancer treatment and summarise how each one works
Surgery - direct removal of the cancer
Chemotherapy - toxins cause damage to tumour cells DNA
Radiotherapy - radiation directly damages DNA of cancer cells
Immunotherapy - drugs act on points in cell cycle to stop it
Hormone therapy - blocking the cancer cell’s ability to use hormones to grow
Targeted therapy - targets proteins on cell surface of cancer cells to damage them
Describe the following terms:
- adjuvant
- neo-adjuvant
- palliative
- curative
Adjuvant - treatment (chemo, radiotherapy, immunotherapy etc.) given after surgery to mop up remaining cancer cells
Neo-adjuvant - treatment (chemo, radiotherapy, immunotherapy etc.) given prior to surgery to reduce tumour size to make it more curable via surgery
Palliative - non-curative treatment that works on the basis of symptom control and increasing comfort
Curative - treatment with the intent of completely removing cancer from the body (usually via surgery)
How can surgery be used for different purposes?
Curative intent e.g. mastectomy
To gain a biopsy
Palliative e.g. gastrojejunostomy (allows oral intake of food)
Main side effects of chemotherapy
Toxic to areas of high cell turnover/proliferation
- Hair - alopecia
- Skin - can become dry, rashes
- Mucosa (whole gut) - ulcers, N+V, diarrhoea
- Bone marrow - lowered platelets, WBCs, RBCs (bleeding/bruising, infection, anaemia)
Main side effects of radiotherapy
Can affect anything in which the beam crosses (Depends on site)
- skin - dermatitis, rashes, hair loss, ulcers
- bone - inflammation causes scar tissue (osteoperosis + fractures)
- bowel - diarrhoea, scar tissue (Adhesions and obstruction)
- bladder - dysuria, radiation cystitis
- upper GI - ulcers, dryness, N+V, dysphagia
- gonads - infertility, menopause
