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Flashcards in Therapeutic Options Deck (54)
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1
Q

What do therapeutic options for cancer involve?

A

Both prevention and treatment

2
Q

What are prevention options for cancer?

A

Environment/behaviour changes

Diet

Screening

Genetics

Medication/vaccination

3
Q

What are treatment options for cancer?

A

Surgery

Radiotherapy

Systematic therapy

Immunotherapy

4
Q

What is immunotherapy?

A

Type of cancer treatment that boosts the body’s natural defences to fight cancer

5
Q

What does evidence suggest colorectal cancer is increased with the consumption off?

A

Red meat

6
Q

What does evidence suggest breast cancer is increased with the consumption of?

A

Saturated fat

7
Q

What is the current advice for diet?

A

Eat 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day

Avoid obesity

Regular exercise (30 mins a day)

8
Q

What are the 2 classes of screening, in terms of societies optionions?

A

High quality research evidence

More controversial

9
Q

What are examples of high quality research evidence screening?

A

Cervical cancer (smear test)

Colorectal cancer (blood in faeces)

Breast cancer (mammography)

10
Q

What are examples of controversial screening?

A

Prostate cancer (PSA blood test)

Lung cancer (MR/CT screening)

11
Q

What are examples of hereditary genes that increase cancer risk?

A

FAP increase colorectal cancer

BRCA1 and BRCA2 increasing breast cancer

12
Q

What is a very controversial form of prevention?

A

Chemo-prevention

13
Q

What is chemoprevention useful for?

A

Primary such as oesphagael cancer and breast cancer

Secondary such as head and neck or lung cancer

14
Q

What is a common kind of chemo-prevention that is not believed to be of much use?

A

Anti-oxidants

15
Q

What kind of cancer is heavily linked with lung cancer, meaning if you have one you are likely to have the other?

A

Head and neck cancer

16
Q

What are the 2 general kinds of treatment?

A

Local or regional

Systematic

17
Q

What are examples of local or regional treatments?

A

Surgery

Radiotherapy

Ablation (radiowaves or freezing)

Isolated limb perfusion (chemotherapy directly to the limb)

18
Q

What is ablation?

A

Radio waves or freezing

19
Q

What is isolated limb perfusion?

A

Chemotherapy directly to the limb

20
Q

What are kinds of systematic treatments?

A

Hormonal therapy

Chemotherapy

Immunotherapy

Whole body irradiation

21
Q

What can staging tell us?

A

Where is the cancer

What kind of cancer

22
Q

What is used to tell us where a cancer is?

A

Examination

Imaging

23
Q

What is used to tell us the kind of cancer?

A

Pathology

24
Q

What does surgery need?

A

Anatomical clearance (complete removal of the tumour)

25
Q
A
26
Q

What is anatomical clearance?

A

Complete removal of the tumour

27
Q

What can radiotherapy do?

A

Treat inoperable lesions

Make surgery more possible

Maintain function or appearance

28
Q

What does radiotherapy need, just like surgery?

A

Complete anatomical coverage

29
Q

What are the 5 R’s of radiobiology?

A

Radio sensitivity (some tumours are not sensitive to treatment)

Repair (no breaks does not allow the tumour to grow so improves survival)

Re-population

Re-oxygenation (oxygen makes cells more sensitive to treatment)

Re-assortment (tumours are least sensitive during the DNA replication stage of the cell cycle

30
Q

When are tumours least sensitive to radiotherapy?

A

During the DNA replication stage of the cell cycle

31
Q

Why is re-oxygenation important for radiotherapy?

A

Oxygen makes cells more sensitive to treatment

32
Q

What is pallation?

A

Care that makes you feel better even though it can’t sure you, used for terminally ill patients

33
Q

What is radiotherapy used for in pallation?

A

Pain

Bleeding

Swollen limbs

34
Q

What is systematic treatment used for?

A

Widespread disease

35
Q

What is a possible side effect of systematic treatment?

A

Widespread toxicity, the dose required to get the desired effect (kill the tumour) has unavoidable side effects due to being high

36
Q

What does hormone treatment have the potential to be?

A

Very specific

37
Q

What does cytotoxic mean?

A

Toxic to living cells

38
Q

What are cytotoxic drugs used for?

A

Curative

Pallative

Adjuvant (has surgery but at risk of reoccurence)

Neoadjuvant (treatment before surgery to shrink the tumour)

39
Q

What is adjuvant in terms of the use of cytotoxic drugs?

A

Has surgery but is at risk or reoccurance

40
Q

What is neoadjuvant in terms of the use of cytotoxic drugs?

A

Treatment before surgery to shrink the tumour

41
Q

What are specific therapies based on?

A

Molecular science

42
Q

What do specific therapies target?

A

Intracellular growth control points

43
Q

What is an example of a specific therapy we can create?

A

Artificial antibodies that cannot exist in nature, such as ones that are bifunctional and can bring cells together

44
Q

What are examples of immune therapies?

A

Nonspecific/innate

Specific

Monoclonal antibodies

Programmed cell death pathway (PD-1)

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) cells

45
Q

What do programmed cell death pathways (PD-1) use?

A

Immune cells to attack cancer cells

46
Q

What is chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells?

A

Artifical T cell receptors to give a specific cell killing function directly againt cancer cells (stops cancer cells hiding from the immune system)

47
Q

What stops cancer cells hiding from the immune system?

A

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells

48
Q

What does immunotherapy need to be?

A

Precise as the immune cells will keep diving and will always be present, and the wrong receptor is used they will attack healthy tissue

49
Q

What will happen if the wrong receptor is used in immunotherapy?

A

The immune cells could attack healthy tissue

50
Q

How can cancer cells hide from the immune system?

A

Due to being self cells (antigen binds to self-cell receptor on T cell)

51
Q

How do CAR T cells prevent cancer from binding to self-receptors and hiding from the immune system?

A

Bind to cancer cells antigen with the forign receptor and destroy them

52
Q

What does CAR T cells being successful depend on?

A

Mutation burden of cancer

Immunogenicity of neoantigens

53
Q

What is clinical research important for?

A

Determining what treatments are effective for who and making them even better

54
Q

Why don’t all people with the same condition respond to the same treatment?

A

Due to unique factors such as genetics and what bacteria normally live in your gut