Cancer (Psych Exam III)
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79 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 cancer | a set of diseases in which abnormal body cells multiply and spread, forming a tumor |
| benign | non-cancerous |
| malignant | cancerous |
| metastasis | the process by which malignant body cells proliferate and spread |
| second | __________ leading cause of death in the United States |
| carcinoma, sarcoma, lymphoma, leukemia | types of cancer |
| carcinoma | cancer of the epithelial cells that line the outer and inner surfaces of the body (breast, prostate, lung, and skin cancer); most common type of cancer, accounts for about 85% of all adult cancers |
| sarcoma | cancer that strikes muscles, bones, and cartilage |
| lymphoma | cancer of the body's lymph system; includes Hodgkin's disease (very rare form of cancer that spread from a single lymph node) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma |
| Leukemia | cancer of the blood and blood-producing system; often considered a childhood disease, but actually affects 10x more adults than children |
| prostate (33%) and lung/bronchus (13%) | two cancers with highest incidence rates in men |
| breast (31%) and lung/bronchus (12%) | two cancers with highest incidence rates in women |
| lung/bronchus (31%) and colon/rectum (10%) | two cancers with highest mortality rates in men |
| lung/bronchus (26%) and breast (15%) | two cancers with highest mortality rates in women |
| age group | prevalence of different cancers varies by __________ |
| African-Americans | __________ have the highest incidence rates for cancer in the United States |
| why African-Americans have the highest incidence rates for cancer | women in this group have historically been less likely to perform regular breast cancer screening, therefore it is diagnosed in later, more serious stages; they tend to have less access to health insurance and health care facilities; differences in diet, tobacco use, and other risk factors play a role |
| tobacco | single-most lethal carcinogen; implicated 20% of all deaths in the U.S. - the vast majority from cancer; linked to cancers of the mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, pancreas, uterine cervix, kidney, and bladder |
| 20% | ____ of lung cancer patients who smoked before diagnosis continue to do so afterwards |
| alcohol use | major risk factor for cancer of the upper respiratory and digestive tracts; may also contribute to breast, colorectal, and liver cancer |
| 2+; 25% | consuming ____ alcoholic drinks per day creates at least ____ greater risk of breast cancer |
| 2-4 | animal research shows that drinking the equivalent of ______ drinks per day increases the growth of an existing tumor |
| tobacco use, alcohol use, diet, weight and obesity, physical activity, genetics | risk factors for cancer |
| diet | primary factor in 1/3 of all cancer deaths |
| reducing intake of foods that promote weight gain; eating mostly foods of plant origin; limiting red meat intake and avoiding processed meat; limiting alcohol consumption; reducing salt intake | American Institute for Cancer Research recommends: |
| Nurses' Health Study | prospective, longitudinal study of 122,000 registered nurses in 11 most populous states that began in 1976; initially designed to study effects of long-term oral contraceptive use; diet questionnaires collected beginning in 1980; same study also recently demonstrated link between moderate drinking and risk of breast cancer |
| women who consumed 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables were 23% less likely to develop breast cancer | main finding of Nurses' health study |
| garlic, flavonoids, lycopene, beta-carotene, selenium, isoflavones, indoles | cancer-fighting foods |
| red wine, grapes, apples, cranberries | sources of flavonoids |
| tomatoes, red peppers, watermelon | sources of lycopene |
| dark yellow and orange fruits, leafy and dark green vegetables, apricots, pumpkins, carrots, spinach, squash | sources of beta-carotene |
| liver, mushrooms, garlic, fish | sources of selenium |
| beans, grains, soy products | sources of isoflavones |
| cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage | sources of indoles |
| endometrium, colon, kidney, esophagus, pancreas, ovaries, gallbladder | being overweight or obese (BMI >25) increases risk of cancer in... |
| colon cancer | lack of physical activity may be a risk factor for |
| 7+; 20% | women who exercise ____ hours per week are ____ less likely to develop breast cancer than those who exercise less than one hour per week |
| 95% | ____ of breast cancers are not inhereted |
| breast cancer in two or more close relatives and more than one generation; early onset, cancer in both breasts, frequent ovarian cancer | families with inherited breast cancer show |
| BRCA1; BRCA2 | mutations in two genes, _______ and _______ increase the risk of breast cancer by 500% and the risk of ovarian cancer by 1,000-3,000% |
| tumor suppressors | BRCA1 and BRCA2 produce proteins that are |
| prophylactic surgery | women with identified mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 may choose |
| toxic chemicals | environmental toxins in air, soil, and water are estimated to contribute to about 2% of fatal cancers, mostly of bladder and lungs |
| hexavalent chromium | PG&E leached _______________, a known human carcinogen, into the groundwater in Hinkley, CA between 1952-1960 |
| ultraviolet radiation | a high frequency radiation that is a known carcinogen |
| melanoma | potentially deadly form of cancer that strikes the melanin-containing cells of the skin (responsible for skin pigmentation); 40-50% of Americans who reach 65 develop this cancer; frequency of childhood sunburns may be a key predictor of who develops this |
| immunocompetence | the overall ability of the immune system, at any given time, to defend the body against the harmful effects of foreign agents; depends on many factors: overall health; nature of foreign agent; perceived stress |
| immune surveillance theory | natural killer T cells prevent the development and spread of cancer cells in the body; when the immune system is weakened by stress or some other factor, the surveillance function of NK cells is suppressed, and cancer may develop |
| early detection | _______________ can dramatically improve chances of survival |
| mammogram | x-ray of the breast used to detect breast cancer; previous recommendations were for clinical breast exams every 3 years for women ages 20-40 and annual mammograms thereafter |
| prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test | blood test that can identify presence of cancerous cells in the prostate; previous recommendation was for annual PSA screening in men older than 50 |
| problems with mammograms | they can trigger additional tests that create extreme anxiety; and, especially in older women, they can detect very slow-growing cancers that will never cause symptoms, resulting in unnecessary treatment |
| 40-49 | no routine mammograms in women ages ________ |
| 50-74 | biannual mammograms between ages ________ |
| 75 | no routine mammograms after age ______ |
| slow-growing | vast majority of men with positive PSA tests never suffer ill effects because their cancer is very _________________ |
| 85 | 75% of men older than _____ already have prostate cancer |
| diagnostic, preventative, staging, curative, restorative | types of surgery |
| biopsy | diagnostic surgery |
| removal of a benign growth | preventative surgery |
| determines the extent of the disease | staging surgery |
| removal of a tumor | curative surgery |
| reconstructs person's appearance or the function of an organ or body part | restorative surgery |
| chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy | types of cancer treatment |
| chemotherapy | use of medicines to treat cancer; medicines are designed to kill fast-growing cancer cells, but also affect normal, healthy cells; normal cells most likely to be affected are blood cells and cells in digestive tract, reproductive system, and fair follicles |
| immunotherapy | newer form of chemotherapy that uses medications to support or enhance immune system's ability to selectively target cancer cells |
| radiation therapy | using x-rays/gamma rays to destroy malignant tumors; ionizing radiation damages the DNA of exposed tissue; unlike chemotherapy, radiation can be targeted to tumor and surrounding area, rather than the entire body |
| acupuncture, herbal extracts, vitamin megadoses, special diets, coffee enemas, anti-neoplastons | alternative treatments |
| remission | state of absence of disease activity in patients known to have a chronic illness that cannot be cured |
| recurrence | return of disease activity |
| fighting spirit | it was once believed that this attitude improved chances of survival after diagnosis, however newer research that it has no impact on survival, yet may improve anxiety and depression; patients whose initial response to the diagnosis is helplessness/hopelessness have lower survival rates |
| learned helplessness | condition in which an organism has learned to behave helplessly, even when the opportunity for it to help itself has been restored; may affect immune functioning |
| psychological treatments | focus on stress/pain relief, control of aversive reactions to treatment, enhancement of emotional well-being; progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, systematic desensitization |
| metastatic breast cancer | 5-year survival rate = 23%; example of a cancer in which there is very little evidence that any treatment improves survival rates |
| progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) | teaches patients to recognize and release muscle tension |
| guided imagery | the use of external devices (verbal instruction, taped music, aromas, etc) to assist in relaxation and the formation of clear, strong images |
| body reacts to sensory events, whether real or imagined; both trigger state of relaxed concentration and increased sense of control and decreased sense of helplessness | how PMR and guided imagery help |
| systematic desensitization | a form of behavior therapy used for overcoming phobias, in which the person is exposed to a series of increasingly fearful situations while remaining deeply relaxed; used to counter classically conditioned side effects of chemotherapy |
| anticipatory nausea | sickness felt before chemotherapy caused by classical conditioning; fixed by systematic desensitization |
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