Question

CASE STUDY B Breast Cancer W.R., a 32-year-old woman, felt a small, hard, painless lump in her left breast during regular self-examination. The lump did not disappear during the next few days, so she went to her physician for an examination. Tests followed, and a biopsy con- firmed the presence of a malignant tumor. The tumor (1.5 cm) was removed, as well as five lymph nodes, two of which con- tained malignant cells. No other metastases appeared to be present. Courses of radiation and chemotherapy were recom- mended following a 6-week recovery period, and the prognosis appeared good. 1. Which activities led to the good prognosis? 2. Why were the lymph nodes checked? 3. Why are radiation and chemotherapy recommended in this case? Describe three possible side effects of treatment.

          CASE STUDY B
Breast Cancer
W.R., a 32-year-old woman, felt a small, hard, painless lump in
her left breast during regular self-examination. The lump did
not disappear during the next few days, so she went to her
physician for an examination. Tests followed, and a biopsy con-
firmed the presence of a malignant tumor. The tumor (1.5 cm)
was removed, as well as five lymph nodes, two of which con-
tained malignant cells. No other metastases appeared to be
present. Courses of radiation and chemotherapy were recom-
mended following a 6-week recovery period, and the prognosis
appeared good.
1. Which activities led to the good prognosis?
2. Why were the lymph nodes checked?
3. Why are radiation and chemotherapy recommended in
this case? Describe three possible side effects of
treatment.

Show more…

CASE STUDY B
Breast Cancer
W.R., a 32-year-old woman, felt a small, hard, painless lump in
her left breast during regular self-examination. The lump did
not disappear during the next few days, so she went to her
physician for an examination. Tests followed, and a biopsy con-
firmed the presence of a malignant tumor. The tumor (1.5 cm)
was removed, as well as five lymph nodes, two of which con-
tained malignant cells. No other metastases appeared to be
present. Courses of radiation and chemotherapy were recom-
mended following a 6-week recovery period, and the prognosis
appeared good.
1. Which activities led to the good prognosis?
2. Why were the lymph nodes checked?
3. Why are radiation and chemotherapy recommended in
this case? Describe three possible side effects of
treatment.

Added by Juan Carlos B.

Biology for AP Courses

Julianne Zedalis, John Eggebrecht

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Solved by Expert Kaela Piechowicz

08/23/2023

Step 1

The activities that led to the good prognosis were early detection and prompt treatment. WR's regular self-examination allowed her to detect the lump early, and she sought medical attention promptly. The tumor was removed, and the lymph nodes were checked for the Show more…

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00:01 What factors led to the good prognosis? and i think the most important feature of this whole story is went in for testing immediately.

00:21 In some situations, time is of the essence with really fast growing cancers.

00:26 And the longer you wait, the worse the prognosis can get.

00:29 So the fact that her prognosis was so good, she quickly went in for testing.

00:35 The second question is, why are the lymph nodes check? so when cancer cells detach, they can go for a ride in the blood or the lymph.

01:02 Now, lymph nodes are kind of like screens, and they trap pathogens and cellular debris and cancer cells.

01:20 So if you're checking the lymph nodes around the tumor, then if cancer cells have escaped into the lymph, then we should be able to easily find those inside a node, because they should get trapped in there.

01:33 At least some of them should get trapped in there.

01:35 Now, in terms of treatment, radiation is done for a couple of different reasons.

01:48 After breast -serving surgery, now sometimes that's called a lumpectomy.

01:59 You want to do this because even if you get clear margins, there's a chance that there might be a cancer cell or two that is still in that tissue.

02:08 So this is a way to get rid of any chance of local recurrence, or at least minimize the chance of local recurrence.

02:16 Also, radiation is done if cancer is in the lymph nodes.

02:20 It's done for the same reason...

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