Question

Pathophysiology

Part 1: Relationship between Concepts: Infection, Stress, & Cancer

Answer the following 2 questions completely and clearly as possible. Explain your thoughts and ideas fully.

1.  What is the relationship of the concept of infection to the alteration that occurs at the cellular level, such as that happens in cancer?

2.  Provide information regarding the relationship between the concept of stress and the concept of infection. Describe in detail and provide at least one example.

Part 2: Living with Cancer

Answer the following 4 questions completely and clearly as possible, and explain your thoughts and ideas fully:

Many early cancers often are not associated with any pain and often few, if any, clinical symptoms. Discuss why this might be so.

Pain is often the most intense and difficult symptom associated with cancer; however, aggressive treatment of pain in the last days of a patient with cancer may depress breathing and hasten death. How do you think pain should be managed in terminal patients with painful cancer-related conditions?

A patient being treated for cancer usually develops leukopenia and an increased risk for cancer. What are the pros and cons of keeping cancer patients in the hospital during aggressive chemotherapy treatment?

3 resources

Answer 1

PART:1 Relationship between Concepts: Infection, Stress, & Cancer:-

1. Cancer is a neoplastic disorder that can involve all body organs, tissues and cells with manifestations that vary according to the body system affected and type of tumor cells.

Cells loose their normal growth controlling mechanism and growth of cells is uncontrolled. The following types of changes occur in cells during cancer.

• HYPERPLASIA:- It is an increase in number of cells due to increased cell mitosis or division. It results in enlargement of an organ, the formation of benign tumor, or may be visible only under microscope. Increased number of abnormal cells leads to infectious process in the body.
• DYSPLASIA:- It refers to generally abnormal changes in cellular shape, size and organization. Tissues mainly prone to dysplasia are cervical and respiratory epithelia. It is also refer as abnormality in maturation of cells within the tissue. It is also indicative of early neoplastic process.

Thus, all these abnormal changes that occur in cells, i.e. cellular changes, change in number, shape and size leads to infectious process in the body.

2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS AND INFECTIOUS PROCESS:-

Stress is a physical or psychological pressure, worry or stress and Infection is a those process that occur in abody due to some pathogenic causes such as bacteria and viruses etc. Stress is mainly categorized as acute and chronic stress.

• ACUTE STRESS:- It involves immediate threat to the body and donot put long term affect to the body. for example: threat occur due to delusion od rope as a snake. In this stress bodyrecovers and returns back to normal.
• CHRONIC STRESS:- It impairs the body functioning such as long term stress of disease, financial and realtionship worries leads to long term stress which cause damage to cells and tissues and this leads to various disease such as migraine, high blood pressure, depression,etc. Also long term stress may leads to PEPTIC ULCERS which occurs due to infectious process. Repeated severe or chronic stress leads to smaller thymus glands, larger adrenal glands and sometimes leads to death as in case of depression.

Part 2: Living with Cancer:-

1. At early stage of cancer the cells metastasis donot occur, the tumor remain only to one part of body so patient or person donot experience any pain. While in later stages, the cells or tumor metastasized to other organs and causing necrotising effect to the body organs, thus causing pain such as in case of bone destruction, obstruction of organ, compression of peripheral nerves, infilteration and distention of tissue, inflammation and necrosis etc. All these occur at the later stage of cancer for example in case of gastric cancer tumor obstructs the intestines and leads to pain. Thus pain occur mainly at the later stages due to advancement of disease.

2. MANAGEMENT OF PAIN IN TERMINAL ILL CANCER PATIENTS:-

• Make collaborative decision with other health team members to develop a pain management program.
• Adminster oral preparations if possible and if they provide adequate relief of pain.
• Mild or moderate pain may be treated with salicylates, acetaminophen(Tylenol), and Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Agents (NSAIDS).
• Severe pain can be treated with opioids such as morphine sulphate, codeine sulphate, methadone.
• Neuropathic pain can be treated with variety of anti-convulsants and antidepressants as well as opioids.
• Subcutaneous injections and continuous IV infusion of opioids provide rapid pain control.
• Provide non-pharmacological techniques of pain control such as relaxation, guided imagery, biofeedback, massage, and heat-cold application.

3. Pros and cons of keeping cancer patients in the hospital during aggressive chemotherapy treatment:-

Pros:- When patient with cancer is addmitted to hospital following benefits occur to patient:-

• Cures cancer: Chemotherapy cycle on regular basis by addmitting patient into hospital cures cancer.
• Treatment by hospitalization increase the lifespan of the patient.
• Contiue hospitalization boosts survival rate and decreased the chances of relapse.
• In case any side effect occur due to disease patient gets immediate treatment in hopital during his stay.
• Hospitalization provides patient qualitative care that leads to slow down disease progression.

Cons Of keeping patient in hospital:-

• Keeping patient in hospital for long term is very expensive which leads emotional and financial pressure to the family of patient.
• Hospitalization put patient life in risk of developing hospital acquired infections as the patient is now have low immunity such as neutropenia etc.
• Patient feels discomfort during long term stay in the hospital such as irritation, headache etc.
• Hospital stay disturbs the patient daily routine life such as exercise, sleep pattern etc.