Cancer

universal precaution

what to do to protect yourself and clients. examples include gloves and goggles, not sharing needles, N95 mask, wash hands, and body suit

why use universal precautions

people with infectious diseases have a weakened immune system and one more susceptible to other diseases

main points from cancer video

cancer is not one disease

cancer develops slowly

cancer begins in one single cell. when it multiplies, changes occur. cell growth is exponential

cancer is detected late in its course

there is a limited time for therapeutic intervention

99.9%

the percent of shared genetic identity tumor cells have with normal cells 

metastasis

the spread of cancer cells from their original site to other parts of the body. this is what kills

how are cancers named

their location of origin (primary site)

risk increases with

age. each decade, you are double more likely to develop cancer

10^12 

number of cells when death occurs. tumor is the weight of a basketball

10^9

number of cells where doctors can detect it. tumor is the weight of a pea

remission

no one is ever actually “cancer free”. the number of cancer cells dips below the 10^9 range so they can’t detect it. relapse is a possibility

radiation therapy

laser that kills cells from the outside

chemotherapy

drugs that kill cells from the inside

problem with radiation and chemo

they kill all cells, not just cancer cells. so, people have breaks between treatments so their normal cells can come back. luckily, cancer cells grow slower than normal cells 

proliferation

cells grow and die when they are done (cancer cells don’t die)

differentiation

cells have different jobs (cancer cells don’t know what their job is, so they become primitive. this makes it difficult to find if a cell in the lymph nodes actually came from the breast)

benign

non cancerous. these tumors do not come back if they are removed

malignant

cancerous tumor

stages of cancer

1) Initiation 

2) Promotion

3) Progression

initiation

viruses, hormone, radiation, genes, chemicals, or other factors affect the targeted cell. the targeted cell is altered in some way (defective differentiation and/or proliferation) and it becomes a cancer cell

promotion

cancer cells proliferate (grow and divide)

progression

cells continue to proliferate and can be detected