Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Carol D. Riley I. Definition A. Incidence: Excluding skin cancers, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, accounting for 32% of all cancers in the United…
Surgical Therapy
Surgical Therapy JoAnn Coleman I. History: Surgery is the oldest treatment for cancer and, until recently, the only cure for patients with cancer. The excision of a tumor recorded on…
Radiation Therapy
Radiation Therapy Jennifer Dunn Bucholtz Michele A. Parisi I. History: In the late 1890s, x-rays and gamma rays were discovered by Roentgen and Curie. By the early 1900s, ionizing radiation…
Complementary, Alternative, and Unproven Therapies
Complementary, Alternative, and Unproven Therapies Joanne Finley Susan Sartorius-Mergenthaler I. History: Complementary, alternative, and unproven therapies have been around for thousands of years, particularly in Chinese medicine. However, these therapies…
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy MiKaela Olsen I. Definition: Chemotherapy is the use of various chemical agents that interfere with the replication and other normal functions of cancer cells, resulting in cell death. The…
Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Blood and Marrow Transplantation Jane C. Shivnan I. History A. Beginnings of Blood and Marrow Transplantation (BMT): The earliest recorded attempt to use bone marrow therapeutically was in 1891, when…
Biological Therapies
Biological Therapies Brenda K. Shelton I. History A. In 1895, Hericourt and Richet were first to document antitumor immune therapy in humans, defining the immune surveillance theory of cancer development….
Epidemiology
Epidemiology Kathleen Burks I. Epidemiologic Process A. Goals: The goals of epidemiologic studies are to discover the causes of disease, detect and quantify risk factors, increase understanding of carcinogenesis, and…
Carcinogenesis
Carcinogenesis Barbara G. Lubejko I. Carcinogenesis A. Carcinogenesis is the process by which normal cells are transformed into malignant cells. B. Evidence indicates that an individual cancer arises from a…
