Diagnosis & Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer Discussion

Diagnosis & Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer Discussion

Diagnosis & Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer Discussion

Assignment: Case Study

The case involves an 82-year-old patient who was evaluated by GI specialists due to abdominal discomfort. Weight loss, loss of appetite, and nausea were also reported by the patient.
He has diabetes and a solid mass in his pancreas head.
The goal of this assignment is to identify potential metastasis sites, tumor stage, carcinogenesis, and tissue levels affected in the patient.

Potential
Metastasis Sites Most Common

The patient is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which has most likely spread to the liver.
Because of the high level of perfusion, live is the most common site for metastasis.
As a result, the peritoneum and lung are two other possible sites of metastasis.
The tumour cells are carried in the blood to other parts of the body and that is why the lung and liver which receives most materials circulated in the body are likely to be the sites for metastasis. As a result, the adrenal gland and bones may be affected (Gospodarowicz et al., 2017).

The Definition of Tumor Markers and the Importance of Testing

Tumor markers are protein molecules that are normally produced in the body but increase when a patient has cancer.
Cancer is characterized by abnormal cell division, which leads to an increase in the production of specific protein molecules.
As a result, tumor cell markers are ordered as part of pancreatic cancer screening tests.
The markers are organ-specific, with CA-19-19 being associated with pancreatic cancer (Wang et al., 2020).

The Importance of TNM Staging

TNM staging is determined by the size of the tumor, spread to nearby lymph nodes, and metastasis.
The tumor in this case is large and has spread to other parts of the body.
The tumor is larger than 2cm in diameter and has spread to the lymph nodes (Gospodarowicz et al., 2017).
As a result, the patient is most likely in stage IV of the cancer disease.
The staging is important because it helps determine the best treatment approach and the patient’s prognosis.
Patients with advanced cancer have a lower survival rate and are more likely to be treated with chemotherapy rather than surgery as a result of metastasis.

The Characteristics of Malignant Tumors

Malignant tumors are distinguished by uncontrollable cell division and metastasis.
The cells divided abnormally, causing changes in their characteristics such as nuclear size and shape.
Malignant cells have the ability to spread and affect other organs in the body.
Through suppressor genes, the body has mechanisms for controlling cell division.
In malignant tumors, the role of suppressor genes becomes dysfunctional.

The Tumor Metastasis Phase and the Carcinogenesis Phase

Carcinogenesis is divided into four stages: initiation, promotion, malignant conversion, and tumor progression (Wang et al., 2020).
At the third stage of carcinogenesis, benign tumors transform into malignant tumors, resulting in metastasis.
Metastasis is a common feature of malignant tumors.

Affects Tissue Level

The patient is suffering from pancreatic cancer.
The pancreas is an epithelial tissue composed of simple cuboidal, stratified cuboidal, and simple epithelium (Wang et al., 2020).
The transitions in epithelial tissue type are determined by the parts of the pancreas that are affected.

Conclusion

Finally, the patient has a pancreatic malignant tumor that has spread.
Because of the advanced staging, managing such a condition is difficult.
Understanding cancer staging, as in this case, assists healthcare providers in making the best treatment decision for the patient.

Question Description
I don’t understand this Nursing question and need help to study.

J.C is an 82-year-old white man who was evaluated by GI specialist due to abdominal discomfort, loss of appetite, weight lost, weakness and occasional nausea.

Past Medical History (PMH)

Patient is Diabetic, controlled with Metformin 500 mg by mouth twice a day, Lantus 15 units SC bedtime. Hypertensive, controlled with Olmesartan 20 mg by mouth once a day. Atrial Fibrillation, controlled with Rivaroxaban 15 mg by mouth once a day and bisoprolol 10 mg by mouth once a day.

Labs:

Hb 12.7 g/dl; Hct 38.8% WBC 8.2; Glycemia 74mg/dl; Creatinine 0.8 mg/dl; BUN 9.8 mg/dl; AST 21 U/L ALT 17 U/L; Bil T 1.90 mg/dl; Ind 0.69 mg/dl; Dir 1.21 mg/dl.
Diagnostic test:

Endoscopic Ultrasound of the Pancreas. Solid mass in the head of pancreas 4 cms, infiltrating Wirsung duct. The solid mass impress to infiltrate the superior mesenteric vein. Perilesional node is detected, 1.5 cms, metastatic aspect. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy: Ductal adenocarcinoma.

Case study questions:

Please name the potential most common sites for metastasis on J.C and why?
What are tumor cell markers and why tumor cell markers are ordered for a patient with pancreatic cancer?
Based on the case study described, proceed to classify the tumor based on the TNM Stage classification. Why this classification important?
Discussed characteristic of malignant tumors regarding it cells, growth and ability to spread.
Describe the carcinogenesis phase when a tumor metastasizes.
Choose the tissue level that is affected on the patient discussed above: Epithelial, Connective, Muscle or Neural. Support your answer.
Submission Instructions:

Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. Your initial post is worth 8 points.
You should respond to at least two of your peers by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts. Your reply posts are worth 2 points (1 point per response.)
All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible.
Please post your initial response by 11:59 PM ET Thursday, and comment on the posts of two classmates by 11:59 PM ET Sunday.
You can expect feedback from the instructor within 48 to 72 hours from the Sunday due date.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.