Psychological Side Effects of Cancer Treatment

This assignment focuses on the psychological impact of cancer treatment, highlighting the importance of addressing mental health concerns in cancer care. It recommends mind-body techniques, counseling, exercise programs, and social services to support patients' emotional well-being. The assignment also emphasizes the need for a coordinated approach among healthcare providers to ensure comprehensive care.

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Approach to cancer care
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in United States, It is the term used for group
of diseases that leads to abnormal cell growth and invasion to various body parts. The abnormal
cells are tumor, or malignant cells infiltrating normal body part. Approaches to cancer care are
central to assignment. The aim is to understand the cancer diagnosis and staging, complications
associated with it and recommend strategies for psychological and the psychological side effects
of the cancer care.
Diagnosis
The diagnostic testing for cancer refers to the series of tests and procedures, to confirm
the cancer disease, to determine type, location, stage to personalise the treatment plan. The initial
diagnosis of cancer takes around five days. Te sequence of the diagnosis includes review of
health history, physical examination, laboratory test (urine or blood sample), biopsy, genetic
testing and set of imaging techniques. During the treatment diagnosis is important to evaluate the
tumor, metastasis to modify the treatment accordingly and eliminate the risk of surgery.
Diagnosis is also important after completion of treatment. Technologies like PET/CT 600 allows
to detect recurrence and movement of small lesions to breast, lungs, prostrates, and colon
(McPherson, & Pincus, 2017).
Physicians cannot alone rely on the lab tests to diagnosis cancer and requires use of
various imaging techniques. There are various imaging procedures to detect the presence of the
cancer. Computed tomography scan or the CT scan helps detect the organs affected with
customers with contrast pictures. Nuclear scan is used to collect the images of the organs and

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bones that are affected with cancer when injected with small amount of radioactive material. The
nuclear scanner detects and measures the radioactivity. Other imaging technique used is the MRI
and PET scan. In MRI a strong magnet filed is used and inked with computer that captures the
body parts and can be printed on film. In PET scan a tracer is injected followed by capturing a
3D picture of the organs and tissues
In most cases biopsy is required to diagnose cancer. In this process a sample of tissue is
collected using needle, endoscope, or surgery and is investigated by the pathologist to detect
cancer. In the excisonal biopsy the entire tumor is removed and in incisional biopsy only the part
of the tumour is removed. Genomic testing refers to the detection of mutations in the DNA, RNA
that drives the growth of the cancer (Jambor et al., 2012).
Cancer stages
Cancer staging refers to describing the size of cancer and its progress. It helps determine
the metastasis of the cancer like breast, bowel, and lung cancer to the surrounding tissues.
Understanding the stages of the cancer is important for designing the systematic treatment such
as chemotherapy, targeted cancer drugs and hormone therapy. For cancers only in the lymph
nodes, adjuvant treatment is preferred. The stages of cancers are determined by scans and others
laboratory tests. For different cancers there are different staging systems. The most commonly
known are the numbered cancer stage system and the TNM system. In the number stage system,
the stage 0 refers to the in-situ cancer where the metastasis has not yet started. In-situ neoplasm
refers to the group of abnormal cells and changes created by them are known as dysplasia. The
cancer cells are in their place of origin. In the stage 1 of cancer, there is a small amount of spread
to the nearby tissues. In the stage 2 and 3, the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and the

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nearby tissues. The stage 4 refers to the advanced or metastasis cancer where the cells spread
throughout the body (Slaney et al., 2014). In the TNM system, the T stands for the tumour, N for
lymph nodes and M for metastases. It describes the size of the initial cancer (ehere I means small
and 4 means very large) followed by its spread to the lymph nodes (0 means no spread to lymph
nodes and 3 means lot of lymph nodes affected) and spread to different body organs (scores
between 0 and 1 where 1 means complete spread to all the body parts). For instance, an advanced
cancer, may be staged as T4N3M1 (Mirsadraee et al., 2012).
Complications of cancers and treatment
The side effects of the cancer treatment such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy are-
anaemia, appetite loss, bleeding, bruising, constipation, delirium, fatigue, nausea and vomiting,
poor sexual health, sleep pattern changes, urinary bladder problems, nerve problems, memory
concentration, infections and hair loss (Iwamoto, 2013). The complications of cancer metastasis
and treatment are cumulative effect of the psychological distress in patients. Three of the
complications are discussed in this section.
Gastrointestinal complications are most common with the cancer treatment and
metastasis procedure. The complications may include constipation, faecal implications, bowel
obstructions, diarrhea, and radiation enteritis. Treatment to constipation includes drinking excess
fluid, regular exercise, and medicines such as laxatives. Faecal impaction is treated with enemas.
Diarrheal can be treated with changes in diet, and use of probiotics. Acute radiation enteritis
may be treated with medicines, opiods, steroids, pancreatic enzyme, and dietary changes.
Chronic radiation enteritis may require surgery. Malignant bowel obstructions are treated with
surgery, stent, medication infusion, and insertion of gastrostomy tube. Fluid replacement therapy,

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blood transfusion, and electrolyte correction, are treatment modes for acute bowel obstruction
(Nam et al., 2015).
Effective cancer treatment leads to the cardiac dysfunction and heart failure. It is mainly
attributed to the chemotherapeutic agents, which cause cellular ATP depletion and apoptosis.
The agents may include anthracyclines, receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors and Her2/neu
inhibitors. There are efforts taken to safe implementation of anti-tumor drugs. MRI methods are
intensively used to track the changes in the myocardial tissues (Bloom et al., 2016).
Neurologic complications of cancer occur with the cancer cells exhibiting the propensity
towards spreading the brain metastases and spread to CNS. These complications occur with the
direct infiltration of the cancer cells into the nerve roots and it leaves devastating impact on the
nervous system. The most known effects of the cancer on the nervous system are the neurologic
paraneoplastic syndromes and hemorrhagic stroke. Cerebrovascular complications occur when
cancer results in hypercoaguable state. Neurological complications also occur with cancer
treatment. It may be radiation induced injury to the brain or chemotherapy-induced peripheral
neuropathy. Symptomatic therapy for seizures and vasogenic edema (treated with
corticosteroids) is the treatment for brain metastasis. Palliative care is given for Leptomeningeal
Metastases (radiation therapy). Treatment of spine metastasis includes high dose steroid therapy,
with dexamethasone to decrease edema. It controls pain and stabilization causes improvement in
neurologic function. For metastasis to peripheral nervous system treatment includes steroids and
analgesics (Nolan & DeAngelis, 2015).

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Recommendations to Address Physiological and Psychological Side Effects of Care
The psychological effects of cancer and treatment process is associated with range of
emotions including shock, disbelief, vulnerability, feeling of helplessness, guilt, insomnia,
anxiety and depression. An integral part of the cancer treatment is the psychological care as the
impact of the psychological side effects is as significant as the physical impact. The
psychological side affect are pain, fatigue, which further undermines the patent’s mental state.
The outcomes may be suicide ideation (Stanton et al., 2015). The recommendations for
psychological side effects are-
 Advocate patient for mind body techniques such as laughter therapy,
interventions for stress management
 Refer patients to professional counselling-group therapy, family and individual
counselling.
 Psychotherapy is effective for anxiety and depression. It is also effective for
improving longevity, and immune function. It is also effective in reducing the side
effects of the cancer treatment. Behaviour, psychodynamic therapy and cognitive
therapy are found to be effective in treating the problematic thought patterns and
rationalise thinking.
 Exercise program such as dance, yoga, were found to combat emotional stress
 Referral to social services is recommended to address financial hardships
 Referral to psychiatrist doctors for medications and mental health nurses for
therapy

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 There must be linking of care provided by hospital-based oncology, GP practices,
palliative care, and community-based services (Archer, Buxton & Sheffield,
2015).

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References
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