Annotated Bibliography
Miller,
Arlo J, M.D., PhD. and Mihm, Martin C, Jr, M.D. Mechanisms of Disease:
Melanoma." The New England Journal of Medicine 355.1 (2006): 51-65.
ProQuest. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
The
researchers with the New England Journal
of Medicine have found that even though melanoma only accounts for 4
percent of skin cancers it is responsible for 80 percent of deaths associated
with skin cancer. They support this with evidence that only 14 percent of
patients who have melanoma that has metastasized live for five years. They
admit they still have a lot to learn about why advanced melanoma is so deadly
and immune to chemotherapy. This article is going to be very beneficial to my
paper. It has multiple risk factors that predispose people to melanoma along
with the mechanism of the disease. The risks associated with tanning is
examined in this source along with others and how it relates to melanoma. The
information was from ProQuest databases and offer many aspects and statistics
that are valuable to my research.
Vincent,
Audrey, et al. "Pancreatic Cancer." The Lancet 378.9791
(2011): 607-20. ProQuest. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Researchers
for the Lancet Journal have found
that screening first generation relatives for pancreatic cancer can help
prevent the disease. Even though the mortality rates of most cancers have been,
declining pancreatic cancer deaths are rising and are the fourth leading cause
of death when it comes to cancer. Only about 4% of patients will live past 5
years. Pancreatic cancer does not respond very well to chemotherapy. Most
patients that are diagnosed have advanced cancers that do not leave many
options for treatment. This source will be very helpful because it lists a lot
of risk factors as well as the treatment and prognosis for the disease. This
source along with other sources offers valuable information and statistics that
are current and reliable for my research. This information supports my initial
thesis that this type of cancer is not making the same amount of progress as
other forms.
Andrew Lowy. Pancreatic Cancer.
Boston, MA: Springer-Verlag New York Inc: 5-20. 2008. Print.
Pancreotabiliary
adenocarcinoma is the most common pancreatic cancer as well as the most deadly.
Adam Lowy made an addition to the M.D. Oncology book series with this book that
offers research and information about pancreatic cancer. It can be hard to
diagnose because the symptoms resemble benign conditions and once found it is
already gone too far. Patients who have this form of cancer pass away
relatively quickly compared to other cancers and conditions. Simple symptoms such
as back pain might not seem like it is a huge deal, but it can be a common
symptom of pancreatic cancer. This is why pancreatic cancer can be so deadly
and difficult to diagnose. This source will be very helpful because along with
all the information it offers it also has pictures of what pancreatic cancer
looks like on the cellular level. Even though there is an inherited risk about
5-10%, one leading risk factor for pancreatic cancer is smoking. Researchers
back up this information by having the statistics from not only the United
States, but from other countries as well. This information agrees with my
thesis that this cancer has an insidious onset and by often when it is found it
is too late. The only treatment option you really have at that point is
surgery, considering the cancer has not metastasized. Unfortunately, most cases
of this type of cancer do spread and they do quite rapidly without much
warning.
Evens, K, and VS Eschiti.
"Cognitive Effects Of Cancer Treatment: "Chemo Brain"
Explained." Clinical Journal Of Oncology Nursing 13.6 (2009):
661-666. CINAHL Complete. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
The
researchers with the Clinical Journal of
Oncology have found some side effects when it comes to treating brain
cancer. Even though most patients just want to be treated so they can live,
they are not aware that the treatment could affect their lives afterward. The
chemo can cause memory loss along with other cognitive deficits. The problem is
that the chemo can pass through the blood brain barrier sometimes and could
cause issues for the patient. This is important to my research because it
offers some side effects of treatment I do not want my paper to focus only on
the disease I want to be able to look at the new treatments and the pros and
cons of the treatment and this journal gives helpful information to help me achieve
that goal. They were able to back up this information by doing this study to
track the patient’s cognitive abilities and finding statistics of how many
patients this issue may affect. This relates to my other sources because it
offers helpful information but another aspect of it. It is also very current
information, which is always a helpful asset when it comes to medicine.
Sun,
Virginia. "Update on Pancreatic Cancer Treatment." The Nurse
practitioner 35.8 (2010): 16-22. Print.
Virginia
Sun is a senior specialist nurse that through research has seen that treatment
posts just as much of a risk to pancreatic cancer patients as the cancer
itself. The treatment can cause even more damage to a patient who is already
weak and compromised when they are in advanced stages of the disease. They say
that only about 7% of pancreatic cancer cases are found in the early stages of
the disease. Which is a very low number compared to other forms of cancers out
there. There is an increased risk with pancreatic cancer in families that have
a mutation in the BRCA2 gene, which is a mutation that can increase your risk
for breast cancer as well. They found that people with pancreatic cancer had a
higher prevalence of depression and other mental disorders even years before diagnosis
compared to any other cancer of the GI tract. This source offered a lot of new
information that I did not find in the other sources. It also includes many
statistics for every statement, which backs up the information that they have
found. This source was valuable because it listed things like depression and
how it may be related to pancreatic cancer and in some ways was a precursor to
the disease. It also lists other mutations, which are responsible for other
types of cancer, and how they relate to pancreatic in ways, I never knew.
Brower,
Vicki. "Large Variations seen in Treatment of Adults with Brain
Cancer." The Journal of the
National Cancer Institute, sec. 97: 478. 2005. Print.
There
are not many guidelines when it comes to treating cancer. Dr. Susan Chang, the
lead investigator of this research realizes one of the drawbacks of the disease
is the poor prognosis. Some drugs cannot penetrate the blood brain barrier and
other times the cancer spreads in such a way that there is nothing they can do
to get to the cancer and treat it. With some types of brain cancer, mainly the
less aggressive forms chemo and radiation can help pro long life. The brain is
such a sensitive area that they have to be very delicate in how they approach
treatment. This source is important because it gives me more background of the
disease how they might treat it and the drawbacks they may encounter when
trying to treat a patient.
Pluta,
Ryszard M, M.D., PhD. & Burke, A. E., M.A. (2011). Melanoma. JAMA, 305(22),
2368. Retrieved from
The
doctors associated with the Journal of
American Medicine have mentioned some of the same facts that I found in
previous articles on the subject of melanoma. This source is unique because not
only does it give facts about the disease it also gives facts on how to prevent
it. It also offers pictures of what different types of melanoma can look like
and how to distinguish them from benign moles or spots on the skin. It does not
matter where on the body the melanoma is they are all caused by melanocytes,
which make the melanin that gives our skin color. This will be helpful with my
paper because now I have pictures that can be related to my research.
Becker,
J C, E Kämpgen, and E Bröcker. "Classical Chemotherapy for Metastatic
Melanoma." Clinical and Experimental Dermatology 25.6 (2000):
503-508. MEDLINE Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
This
article outlines all the types of chemo that have been tested to help patients
with melanoma. The most useful tests were the use of immunomodulary techniques,
which were the most promising. However, they have not been able to see a large
enough group of patients to see how big of a difference it is really making. People
that have distant metastases which is when the cancer spreads to organs and
structures distant from the spot of origin have a poor outlook. Those that only
have metastases that have only spread to distant lymph nodes or lungs have a
better outlook. They use systematic cytotoxic chemotherapy to treat stage 3 and
4 melanoma. Systemic chemotherapy’s goal is to slow the growth or cure the
cancer while doing the least amount of damage while relieving pain and keeping
the cancer from spreading any further.
No comments:
Post a Comment