Question

1. What is immunotherapy and why are people so excited about it?

2. When Bill received a cancer diagnosis, his physician told him about the grade and stage of the tumor. Which of these is most likely to convey information about the degree of metastasis?

3. Susie's doctor discovers a lump in her breast at her yearly physical exam. He sends her to an X-ray clinic for a mammogram. Is the mammogram she gets an example of cancer screening? Why or why not? If not, what is the term which best describes what is happening at the X-ray clinic?

4. Radiation can be used to detect cancers, and radiation can be used to treat cancers. How is this possible? What are some of the downsides of using radiation for detection and treatment?

5. In the early days of cancer surgery, women with breast cancer were subjected to "radical mastectormies" in which significant amounts of their chest and shoulder were removed in addition to their breast tissue. These surgical methods were painful and dangerous, and, it turns out, not effective in promoting longer life in the patients. What do you think was the motivation for these radical surgeries, and why do you think they were not effective?

6. Thyroid cancer can be treated by giving patients radioactive iodine. Why is this effective?

7. How can the effectiveness of alternative or complementary therapies be determined scientifically?

Answer 1

1. In immuotherapy body's own immune system is used to fight against cancer. There are several methods of immunotherapy possible such as use of T cell, monoclonoal antibodies or cancer vaccines to treat cancer. They are promosing as they are using our own immunesystem to slower down the cancer growth or preventing cancer to spread on different parts of the body rather than origin.

2. Tumor grade and stages generally describes how the tissue looked under the microsope indicating what is the status of the tumor or cancer cell inside the body and how far they have spread or how fast they will spreads to form metastasis. For instance grade 1 represents tumor where cells are differentiating well and it will be localized tumor. Whereas grade 2 represents cells are starts to differentiate having the possibility of metastasized. On the other hand grade 3 or 4 represents poorly differentiated cells within the tissue specimen indicating metastasis. Similarly stage 2 or 3 will indicate tumors which eventually have the possibility to spread and metastasized to other organ.

3. A mammogram generally describes the method of having X-ray image of breast. However, not any mammogram is for cancer checking. The mammogram which is used for early detection of cancer is called screening mammogram. In this method very low dose X-ray is passed through the breast to build the image so that early information about cancer can be given and normally it comprises of two or more images.

4. When radiation is used at low frequency or dose such as X-ray which is useful for cancer deection. However, for destruction of cancer cells, high dose radiation is used. Radiation can have several side effects such as Diarrhea, vomiting, weight loss, low blood count or skin issues.

5. radical mastectormies were done earlier as at that time people from medical background used to think that breast cancer will spread at the local areas at the beginning , next they will invade the tissue which is situated nearby and then will invade the lymph nodes where they will be entrapped. Addtionally spreading of tumor cells through blood will occur very late.

The therapy failed as there could be pateints, where at the time of diagnosis it could be possible that the tumor cells have metastasized or spread to different distal regions of body, In this situation radical mastectormies will not help.

6. In principle thyroid gland in our body absorbs all the iodine present inside. Now when radioactive iodine is administrated, thyroid gland similarly took up those iodine and then radioactivity destroys the cancer cells inside thyroid gland.

7. There are several therapies available which is offered as alternative or complementary therapy. However, if we want to evaulate how effective these therapies scientifically we need to go through several points which are necessary to understand the usefulness of these methods. Such as-

• how this therapeis are in done ? with which substances and whether they will be used in addition to standard therapy or as separate therapy?
• How long does the process take ?
• what available documents are their in support of these therapies? Is it published in well known journals?
• what are the side effects?