Transcript Cancer - Mounds Park Academy Blogs

Cancer
“If you say you can or you can't you are right either way”
― Henry Ford
Definition
 It is a malignant neoplasm
 Neoplasms are diseases that
involve unregulated cell growth.
 In cancer, cells divide and grow
uncontrollably, forming malignant
tumors.
 A malignancy (from the latin male
“badly” + -gnus “born”) is the
tendency of tumors to become
progressively worse.
 Cancers as a group account for
approximately 13% of all deaths
each year with the most common
being: lung cancer (1.4 million
deaths), stomach cancer (740,000
deaths), liver cancer (700,000
deaths), colorectal cancer (610,000
deaths), and breast cancer (460,000
deaths)
Signs and Symptoms
 In the beginning it usually
produces no symptoms.
 Signs and symptoms only appear
as the mass continues to grow or
ulcerates.
 The symptoms that result depend
on the type and location of the
cancer.
 It is not uncommon for people
diagnosed with cancer to have
been treated for other diseases
to which it was assumed their
symptoms were due
Local symptoms
 Depends on cancer type.
 Lung cancer causes
coughing, esophageal
cancer, difficulty in
swallowing.
 Changes in bowel habits
can be a sign of colorectal
cancer.
 Masses on the body can, at
times, be easily felt.
 Ulcerations can cause
blood in the urine, stool or
appear as a sore that does
not heal.
Systemic Symptoms
 These symptoms are due to
distant effects of the cancer.
 Unintentional weight loss.
 Fever.
 Excessively tired.
 Changes to the skin.
 Nervous system disorders.
 This is a slide showing the
abnormal blood of a person with
Leukemia. Note the large number
of immature, non-functional
white blood cells.
Metastasis
 Metastasis is when cancer cells
break off of a tumor, travel in the
blood stream, land somewhere in
the body and began to grow
another tumor.
 Symptoms of this can include
enlarged lymph nodes, enlarged
liver and speen, facture of
effected bones and neurological
symptoms.
 Most cancer deaths are due to
cancer that has metastasized.
Causes
 Cancers are primarily an
environmental disease.
 90-95% of the cases attributed
to environmental factors are
due to genetics.
 Tobacco (25-30%), diet and
obesity (30-35%), infections
(15-20%), radiation (up to
10%), stress, lack of physical
activity and pollutants.
Chemicals
 Cancer is caused by DNA
mutations that affect cell growth.
 Mutagens are substances that
cause DNA mutations.
 Mutagens that cause cancer are
called carcinogens.
 Tobacco smoke contains over 50
known carcinogens.
 Some carcinogens are not
mutagens. Alcohol is an example
of that.
Diet and Exercise
 Diet, physical inactivity,
and obesity are related to
30-35% of cancer deaths.
 Physical inactivity has
negative affects on the
immune and endocrine
system.
 Diets low in vegetables
and high in salt are linked
to certain cancers.
Infection
 18% of all cancers are related to
infectious disease.
 Viruses are the main culprits with
bacteria and parasites playing a
lesser role.
 Oncovirus – cancer causing virus.
 Example human papillomavirus –
causes cervical cancer.
 Woman are strongly encouraged
to get vaccinated against HPV
Radiation
 Up to 10% of invasive cancers
are related to radiation
exposure.
 This includes UV light and
radon gas.
 This can take up to 40 years to
develop.
 Children and adolescents are
twice as likely to develop
radiation induced luekemia.
 Prolonged exposure to UV
radiation from the sun can lead
to melanoma.
Hormones
 Some cause cancer to
grow.
 High Estrogen and
progesterone levels
linked to breast cancer.
 High levels of
testosterone linked to
prostate cancer.
 Hormone replacement
therapy has increased
# of cancers for that
group.
 Growth hormone may
increase incidence of
certain cancers.
Pathiophysiology
 Cancer is fundamentally a disease
of tissue growth regulation
failure.
 In order for a normal cell to
transform into a cancer cell, the
genes which regulate cell growth
and differentiation must be
altered.
 Oncogenes are genes which
promote cell growth and
reproduction.
 Tumor suppressor genes are
genes which inhibit cell division
and survival.
Errors likely
 Replication of the enormous
amount of data contained within
the DNA will probably result in
some errors (mutations).
 Error correction and prevention is
built into the process, and
safeguards the cell against cancer.
 If significant error occurs, the
damaged cell can "self-destruct"
through programmed cell death,
termed apoptosis.
 If the error control processes fail,
then the mutations will survive
and be passed along to daughter
cells.
 Most cancers are
recognized because of
the appearance of signs
or symptoms or
through screening.
 This requires the
examination of a tissue
sample by a
pathologist.
 People with suspected
cancer are investigated
with medical tests.
 These commonly
include blood tests, Xrays, CT scans and
endoscopy.
Diagnosis
Classification
 Cancers are classified by
the type of cell that the
tumor cells resembles.
 These types include:
 Carcinoma: Cancers derived
from epithelial cells.
 This group includes many
of the most common
cancers, breast, prostate,
lung, pancreas, and colon
 Chest X-ray of lung cancer.
Sarcoma
 Sarcoma: Cancers arising
from connective tissue.
 (i.e. bone, cartilage, fat,
nerve), each of which
develop from cells
originating in mesenchymal
cells outside the bone
marrow.
 Lymphoma and
leukemia: These two
classes of cancer arise
from hematopoietic
(blood-forming) cells.
 These cells leave the
marrow and tend to
mature in the lymph
nodes and blood.
 Leukemia is the most
common type of
cancer in children
accounting for about
30%
Lymphoma
Prevention
 Most cancers are due to
environmental factors.
 Many of these factors are
controllable by lifestyle
choices.
 Because of this, cancer is
considered a largely
preventable disease.
 More than 30% of cancer
deaths could be prevented by
avoiding tobacco, being
overweight, bad diet,
inactivity and air pollution.
 NSAiDs (advil, aspirin,
naproxen (alevel))
reduce the risk of
colorectal cancer.
 Aspirin reduce risk of
cancer by 7%.
 Vitamins have not
been found effective
in preventing cancer.
 Vaccines (HPV),
hepatitis B vaccine,
prevent cancers of
the cervix and liver.
Medication
Screening
 Fight cancer with a check up
and a check.
 Colonoscopy every other year
after age 50.
 Prostate check every year
after age 50.
 Mammography for women
every two years after age 50.
 Skin and mouth check
concurrent with visits to the
dentist and doctor.
Germ and Blastoma
 Germ cancers arise from
pluripotent cells in the testicle
or ovary.
 Blastoma cancers arise from
immature precursor cells or
embryonic tissue.
 Blastomas are more common
in children than adults.
Treatment - Surgery
 Primary method of
treating isoloated solid
cancers.
 Part of making a definite
diagnosis.
 Often the entire mass
along with related lymph
nodes are removed.
 For some types of cancer
this is all that is needed.
Treatment - Chemotherapy
 This is treating cancer with
drugs that kill the cancer
cells but do no quite kill the
good cells.
 Traditionally rapidly dividing
cells are targeted which will
also affect hair bone
marrow and digestive tract.
 Newer drugs target
abnormal proteins in cancer
cells.
 Another strategy is to use
chemicals that cut off the
blood supply to the cancer.
Treatment - Radiation
 This is using ionizing
radiation to kill the
cancer cells.
 Usually used in
conjunction with chemo
and surgery.
 For certain cancers in the
head and neck it is used
alone.
 For bone cancer it is
effective 70% of the
time.
Treatment - Brachytherapy
 This is placing a tiny
radioactive pellet inside or
next to the tumor.
 Effective for cervical, prostate,
breast, and skin cancer.
 This is effective because the
radiation affects just that
small localized area.
Prognosis
 Taken as a whole about
half of the people
treated for cancer will
die.
 Survival is worse in the
poorer countries.
 Those who survive have
an increased risk of
getting it again.
Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer
Charles Schulz died of colon cancer
Harmon
Killebrew died of
esophageal
cancer 2012
Hubert
Humphrey
died of
bladder
cancer
Steve McQueen died
of lung cancer
Humphrey
Bogart died of
lung cancer
John Wayne
died of lung
cancer
Madeline
Kahn died of
ovarian
cancer
Robert DeNiro
– survived
prostate cancer
Cybill Shepherd – survived skin cancer
On February 16,
2013, at the age of
37, Angelina Jolie
underwent a
preventive double
mastectomy after
learning she had
an 87% risk of
developing breast
cancer due to a
defective BRCA1
gene