Question

The following does not apply to cancer chemotherapy:
A Each treatment with a cytotoxic drug kills a constant number of malignant
cells
B Drugs are generally used at maximum tolerated doses
C. The same regimen which is palliative for a large solid tumour may be curative
after surgical removal of the tumour
D Combination regimens using several drugs in succession are superior to
single drug used continuously​

Answer 1

Answer:

Anticancer therapy, especially in veterinary medicine, was based and still relies almost exclusively on surgical therapy, although associated therapy has developed over the past decades: surgery and/or chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, with the development of cryotherapy, immunotherapy and in general, the adoption of techniques and methodologies used in human oncology.

The therapeutic strategy should take into consideration three indispensable elements:

– the histological nature of the lesion;

– the assessment of the extension of the tumor process;

– the evaluation of the general disease state.

The histological nature of the lesion should be known at least for the following reasons: not all tumors show the same sensitivity to chemotherapy or radiotherapy; antimitotic substances that possess an activity against some cell families and hematolymphopoietic organ tumors are not active against sarcomas; anticancer therapy should be capable of anticipating the probable evolution of the tumor process against which action should be taken [6].

Anticancer therapy should be evaluated for each individual patient, with all peculiarities involved. In this sense, therapy in neoplastic disease can be aimed at:

– curative treatment, which determines recovery;

– adjuvant treatment, which helps other complex therapies or prevents unfavorable evolution (recurrences, metastases) and participates at the same time in hopefully curative polytherapy;

– palliative treatment, which cannot be aimed at recovery but only an improvement in symptomatology and/or the prolongation of life.

Explanation: