Cancer: Diagnosis, Staging, Complications, and Treatment Side Effects

Running head: CANCER
CANCER
Name of the student;
Name of the university;
Author note:

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Introduction:
An oncology nurse can be described as the healthcare professionals who cared for
patients and educated them when they suffer from cancer. They are seen to work in
multidisciplinary teams to provide the best care meeting all aspects of treatment to the patient
(Yarbo et al., 2016). They play an important role in educating patients, coordinating care of the
patient, administering chemotherapy drugs, managing side effects of the drugs and many others.
This assignment would be involving various important knowledge and skills that nurses need to
develop so that good quality and safe care is ensured.
Diagnosis and staging of cancer:
Imaging procedures can help in creating of different images of different arenas of the
body that aide the doctor to locate about the exact location of the tumor. CT scan includes an X-
ray machine that remains connected with the computers and takes sequences of comprehensive
pictures of different organs dyes and contrast materials are used for highlighting different areas
of the body. These contrast materials make the pictures easier to read (Given et al., 2016).
Another method of diagnosis is the nuclear scan where an injection of a little quantity of
radioactive material called tracer is made to flow through the blood stream and thereby gets
collected in the bones and organs. Machine called a scanner helps in detecting and measuring the
radioactivity. The scanner creates picture of the bones and organs on a film or the computer
screen. Another method uses the ultrasound device that helps in sending out waves, which
individuals cannot listen. These waves are seen to bounce off from that of the tissues present
inside from the body looking similar to that of an echo. Moreover, a computer utilizes such form
of the echoes for creating an image of the different areas in the body. MRI method uses a strong

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magnet that remains linked to the computer for making detailed picture of areas in the body,
which the doctor can print on a film. Pet scan can be used as well. Here the patients are given an
inoculation of the tracer and then a machine would be making a 3-D pictures showing where the
tracer gets collected within that of the body. Such scans help in understanding how well the
tissues and organs are working. X-rays are also used to where low dose radiations are utilized in
creating pictures of the inside of the body. In order to finalize about the presence of absence of
cancer, a biopsy is conducted (Basch et al., 2016). The professional removes the sample of tissue
in this procedure. Following this, a pathologist professional observes the tissue under a
microscope for finding cancer. This might be removed in a number of methods like with the help
of needle, endoscope and with surgery.
Stage is mainly seen to be referring towards the extent of the disorder like how larger
the tumor is and whether it has started to spread. Studies opine that every healthcare
professionals need to identify and know the stages of cancer as it helps them in number of ways.
Its helps them to understand the intensity of the seriousness of the cancer and the chances of their
survival, planning the best treatment of the affected patient and then identifying the clinical trials
that might act as the treatment options for the patient. Different types of staging systems are
present which include TNM staging system and this is mainly used for different types of cancer.
The systems of staging provide different information. These include location of the tumor, cell
types, size of the tumor, the spreading of disorder to nearby lymph nodes, spreading of cancer to
different body parts and many others (Stewart et al., 2018). Stage 0 mainly describe about the
abnormal cells that remain present but are not spread to nearby tissues. Stages “I, II and III”
show that cancer within the patient is present. It has been found that he higher the stage, the