FUNDAMENTALS OF CHEMOTHERAPY IMMUNOTHERAPY ADMINISTRATION

STUDY GUIDE FOR ONS&ONCC FUNDAMENTALS OF CHEMOTHERAPY IMMUNOTHERAPY ADMINISTRATION EXAM What do alkylating chemotherapy drugs do? - CORRECT ANSWER-Chemotherapy drugs that are cell cycle nonspecific, so they exert their effects in all phases of the cell cycle. They directly damage DNA to prevent cancer cells from reproducing. They cause breaks in the DNA or cross-linking in a process called alkylation, which causes the drug to interfere with DNA replication. neoadjuvant therapy - CORRECT ANSWER-a cancer treatment that precedes other primary treatment, such as administering chemotherapy or radiation therapy to a patient before surgery adjuvant therapy - CORRECT ANSWER-Treatment of disease with substances that assist or enhance the action of primary treatment (i.e. surgery or radiation). induction treatment of leukemia - CORRECT ANSWER-This phase of chemotherapy treatment (first phase of treatment) usually is initiated in the hospital because of its potential for serious side effects and complications from the severe, intended myelosuppression that ensues. The goal is to achieve a complete response. consolidation treatment - CORRECT ANSWER-This treatment is done to ensure the treatment takes effect and decreases the chance of a recurrence. This treatment is vital because leukemic cells that are not clinically apparent, as through a CBC laboratory draw result or bone marrow biopsy evaluation, are almost always still present to some small degree in the bone marrow. myeloablation therapy - CORRECT ANSWER-A process in which the bone marrow purposely is obliterated through chemotherapy or radiation to prepare for peripheral blood stem cell transplantation or bone marrow transplantation. Myeloablation often is used to treat blood (i.e., liquid) malignancies, such as leukemia or lymphoma. reinduction therapy - CORRECT ANSWER-This treatment is used when a patient who successfully completed induction and consolidation, but relapses months later. combination therapy - CORRECT ANSWER-This therapy reduces the likelihood of drug resistance because the different chemotherapy drugs have different mechanisms of action. Cancer cells usually are heterogeneous; therefore, the effect of different mechanisms of action increases the amount of cancer cells killed at one time. The efficiency seen by use of multiple chemotherapy agents within a regimen provides a synergistic effect. synergy - CORRECT ANSWER-When one chemotherapy drug helps another one (given at the same time) work better, such as with leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil when treating colon cancer. Leucovorin increases the deadly effect that 5-fluorouracil has on cancer cells; in other words, the cytotoxicity is potentiated. complete response - CORRECT ANSWER-No identifiable cancer presence through signs or symptoms for at least one month or l