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What are biochemical indicators associated with malignancy called?
Tumor markers are substances found in higher-than-normal levels in the blood, urine, or tissues of some people with cancer. These substances, which are also called biomarkers, can be made by the tumor. They can also be made by healthy cells in response to the tumor.
What are the features of malignancy?
Increased nuclear size (with increased nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio–N/C ratio). Variation in nuclear or cell size (pleomorphism). Lack of differentiation (anaplasia). Increased nuclear DNA content with subsequent dark staining on H and E slides (hyperchromatism).
What does staging as it relates to oncology terminology refer to?
Stage refers to the extent of your cancer, such as how large the tumor is, and if it has spread. Knowing the stage of your cancer helps your doctor: Understand how serious your cancer is and your chances of survival. Plan the best treatment for you. Identify clinical trials that may be treatment options for you.
The grade of a cancer describes what the cancer cells look like using a microscope. Most cancers are graded by how they compare with normal cells. Low grade or grade I tumors are well-differentiated. This means that the tumor cells are organized and look more like normal tissue.
What are the classifications and uses of tumor markers?
Clinical application of tumor markers can be broadly classified into 4 groups: Screening and early detection, diagnostic confirmation, prognosis and prediction of therapeutic response and monitoring disease and recurrence.
What are the properties of a good tumor markers?
An ideal tumor marker should be highly sensitive, specific, reliable with high prognostic value, organ specificity and it should correlate with tumor stages. However, none of the tumor markers reported to date has all these characteristics.
What is a malignant process?
Malignant transformation is the process by which cells acquire the properties of cancer. This may occur as a primary process in normal tissue, or secondarily as malignant degeneration of a previously existing benign tumor.
How can you tell if a cell is malignant?
In most situations, a biopsy is the only way to definitively diagnose cancer. In the laboratory, doctors look at cell samples under the microscope. Normal cells look uniform, with similar sizes and orderly organization. Cancer cells look less orderly, with varying sizes and without apparent organization.
What is malignant in medical terms?
(muh-LIG-nun-see) A term for diseases in which abnormal cells divide without control and can invade nearby tissues. Malignant cells can also spread to other parts of the body through the blood and lymph systems.
What are the worst cancers to get?
Top 5 Deadliest Cancers
- Lung Cancer. U.S. deaths in 2014: 159,260.
- Colorectal Cancer. U.S. deaths in 2014: 50,310. How common is it? …
- Breast Cancer. U.S. deaths in 2014: 40,430. How common is it? …
- Pancreatic Cancer. U.S. deaths in 2014: 39,590. How common is it? …
- Prostate Cancer. U.S. deaths in 2014: 29,480. How common is it? …
Which parameters are taken into account in the TNM staging of cancers?
A system to describe the amount and spread of cancer in a patient’s body, using TNM. T describes the size of the tumor and any spread of cancer into nearby tissue; N describes spread of cancer to nearby lymph nodes; and M describes metastasis (spread of cancer to other parts of the body).
Does tumor size determine stage?
Tumor Size and Staging
In general, the smaller the tumor, the better the prognosis tends to be [13]. Tumor size is part of breast cancer staging. In the TNM staging system, a “T” followed by a number shows the size of the tumor.