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Soon's notes p 55/348 AE3
- Zones of cervical lymph nodes are important - they determine the pattern of lymphadenectomy when there is disease. Radical dissections may include removal of the SCM
- COX-1 gastroprotective due to mucus secretion and prostaglandin E allows platelet adherence
- NSAIDs also produce renal dysfunction
- oxidative free radical
- prostaglandin vasodilates efferent arteriole --> decreased renal blood flow
- NSAIDs also produce renal dysfunction
- MRI are particularly useful in brain + pelvis because bony confines cause artefacts, so we use MRI instead of CT for staging rectal cancer or neurological problems
- Difficult to read, expensive, claustrophobia
- PET/CT together may replace CT and bone scan together
- ABVD (Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine,Dacarbazine)
- Side effects: febrile neutropenia, skin changes, irritable diarrhea
- Bleomycin blasts the lungs
- Vinblastine --> peripheral neuropathy: sensitivity to light touch, paraesthesia
- The agents you give to get rid of the cancer may cause other bone cancers -- follow these patients up
- Surgical biopsy + radiological biopsy
- Surgeons involved when splenectomy or lymph node excision
- Radiological aspirate is not diagnostic alone because they can get cytology, but not histology (need organisation of the cells in the lymph node [including its fibrous capsule] to classify the lymphoma). They do H+E staining, flow cytometry etc to type the note.
- Hodgkins vs NHL
- Hodgkins: Reed-Sternberg cells (owl-eyes, lots of cytoplasm), occurs in younger people, has better prognosis, lymphadenopathy tends to be more localised
- 10-20% of all lymphomas are HL. NHL = group of everyone with no Reed Sternberg cells
- Hodgkins: Reed-Sternberg cells (owl-eyes, lots of cytoplasm), occurs in younger people, has better prognosis, lymphadenopathy tends to be more localised
- Chemotherapy generates an intellectual 'fog' - not good for studies or working at a high level. This is because neural tissue is affected. This is a big problem for career, particularly since these people are young
- Secondary thyroid CA in HL
- Radiotherapy during the treatment of HL can increase the risk of thyroid cancer in these patients
- Types: papillary, follicular, medullary, anaplastic
- Papillary thyroid CA: metastasise rapidly to LNs. Well treated with thyroidectomy and chemotherapy. Survival >100% because they overtake the controls in their function
- Anaplastic: poor prognosis, only 2-3 weeks
- Types: papillary, follicular, medullary, anaplastic
- Radiotherapy during the treatment of HL can increase the risk of thyroid cancer in these patients
- Remission isn't a guarantee it won't come back, it can always come back
- HL is a minority of lymphomas and they do better
- It's very rare for people after chemotherapy to be better physiologically after chemotherapy - so Lance's story was dodgey
- Aetiology of lymphoma (see here: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/non-hodgkinlymphoma/detailedguide/non-hodgkin-lymphoma-risk-factors)
- Genetics
- Radiation
- HIV/immunocompromised
- infliximab; immunosuppression
- EBV, HHV8
- H. pylori - associated with mucosa associated lymphomas
- Leukaemias
- Consensual decision making - need patient compliance
- If you don't complete treatment, you're exposed to all the risk without getting benefit
- Providing information, possibly in a number of formats
- Family meeting, bring all stakeholders - help patient make a decision
- Pushing someone to difficult treatment with 80% remission
- If someone makes a decision that gives them a bad prognosis, you need to lure them
- Explain the adverse effects of not treating e.g. painful death
- Check their understanding to see why they make a poor decision
- Make sure patient is lucid
- If they're lucid and sanely making a poor decision, you have to accept their decision
- If parents in charge of a kid make a poor decision, get guardianship and give them the treatment. Then follow up the parents in case
- Exam point: show empathy if you don't know
- If you don't know, at least show you're a good person
- In regards to heuristics, if the Px refuses Tx once, the procedure is to reinform the Px of the situation & the recommended course of action → check the Px’s understanding → offer the Tx again
- If the Px refuses again, the practitioner must oblige by the Px’s wishes
- People aren't robots, and don't know how to use percentages. Instead people just follow intuition. It's important to personalise some of the statistics.
- Heuristics = rules of thumb ignoring evidence. But in practice you can't follow EBM all the time. Therefore you sometimes need to use heuristics - but make sure not using heuristics even in the face of evidence to the contrary.
- Need to be flexible enough to change your decision making when their is evidence
- Freeze eggs/sperm before chemotherapy! Fertility can be lost
- Thyroid mass rises with swallowing, unlike neck lymphadenopathy
- Note the commonest cause of enlarged lymph node in the neck is infection e.g. dental cavity
- Thyroglossal cyst = attached to foramen cecum at the back of the tongue, it moves when you protrude your tongue. Therefore different to enlarged lymph node.
- Breast cancer tends to metastasise to bowel mucosa
- Chemotherapy: fatigue, diarrhea, mood disturbance
- costs of treatment
- 2 year loss of income due to chemotherapy fog
- refuse treatment
- influence from other sources
- need relatives on side for the pt to be compliant
- counsel the patient if their relatives are providing disinformation
- adjust expectations for patient - laser therapy for prostate CA - you need to work within what the PBS can do
- there is a bias towards the
- CRAAP test for information the patients have been using: a lot of it is commercial