A patient with a history of smoking is diagnosed with cancer. If ...

[Chloeellawright]

A patient with a history of smoking is diagnosed with cancer. If applying the cellular mutation theory of cancer to this patient's diagnosis, the nurse realizes that smoking impacted which stage?
 
  1. promotion
  2. initiation
  3. progression
  4. replication

Question 2

A female patient asks the nurse why she needs a procedure to remove part of her cervix that was infected with a virus. What should the nurse explain to this patient?
 
  1. Human papillomavirus can cause cervical cancer.
  2. The medication to treat this virus is toxic to the body.
  3. If left untreated, it could spread to the liver.
  4. If left untreated, it could spread to the breast.

[kswal303]

Answer to Question 1

Correct Answer: 1
The theory of cellular mutation suggests that there are agents that cause mutations in cellular DNA that transforms cells into cancer cells. These agents are called carcinogens and it is believed that the carcinogenic process has three stages: initiation, promotion, and progression. The initiation stage involves permanent damage in the cellular DNA as a result of exposure to a carcinogen that was not repaired or had a defective repair. Promotion may last for years and includes conditions, such as smoking or alcohol use, that act repeatedly on the already affected cells. In the progression stage further inherited changes acquired during the cell replication develop into a cancer. Replication is not a stage in the mutation theory of cancer.

Answer to Question 2

Correct Answer: 1
Human papillomavirus has been linked to the development of cervical cancer. The nurse should explain how this could occur and why the patient would benefit from having the procedure to remove the area of the cervix infected with the virus. There is no medication available to treat the human papillomavirus. Untreated human papillomavirus can cause melanoma, cervical, penile, and laryngeal cancer.