help on pathophysiology

Hi, I'm working on my prep work for my pt tomorrow. Her dx is right renal and abdominal mass. It did not say it was a cancerous tumor or anything like that. The problem is, I can't find anything in my text books or online for my pathophys. other than renal cell carcinoma. Can anyone give me any advice on what to put for this pathophys or even a resource to look in? Thanks.

Melanie;)

Wow thats a tough one. I have a book , speciically on Pathophysiology and it doesnt least anything on kidney masses. It sounds like they ran some test, and plan to do more tests to find what those masses are.. Like biopsy for example. If i was a patient i sure would be anxious about it....so risk for anxiety might be one diagnostic label. I am very new to care plans myself so it may be like the blind leading the blind. I hope someone else is of more help. I am sure curious to find out how you did on this.

a "mass" can either malignant or benign. that will be up to the physicians to determine. however, the way a mass forms, whether it is malignant or benign is still identical. cell replication goes haywire and over replication results in the mass.

the division, reproduction and replacement of all normal cells are controlled by regulator genes. a normal cell has regulator genes that produce hormones that act as on and off switches that begin or stop cell division and differentiation. a cell becomes malignant (cancerous) when these regulator genes and the hormones they produce develop errors in function or stop functioning altogether. the normal cell then loses the ability to reproduce normally. otherwise, the developing mass remains benign. the problem may be with the gene itself or in the synthesis of the hormones controlling this cell cycling process.

what happens in mass formation is that when the mechanism controlling the division and differentiation goes on the fritz cells go into overdrive and begin unrestricted division and reproduction. their rate of reproduction increases dramatically and in a very disorderly way compared to the other cells around them. cells that will become malignant (cancerous) lose their ability to differentiate and a state called anaplasia results as these cells continue to multiply and begin to lose some of their resemblance to the original cell they started from; benign cells retain their ability to differentiate and maintain their integrity. the normal cells around the growing mass will try to "rescue" the situation by evoking the immune or inflammatory response and by releasing other growth factors, hormones and chemicals into the area in an attempt to stop what is going on. for one of these wayward cells to develop into a tumor, or mass, the body's immune system must fail to recognize or respond to it. in addition, there must be enough of a blood supply to bring oxygen and nutrients to nourish these cells so the mass can thrive. blood supply is a big factor in the early survival success of any mass, malignant or benign. however, once a mass is able to successfully thrive and grow relentlessly, it will begin to produce it's own angiogenesis factors which will stimulate the formation of new blood vessels around them in order to meet its growth and nutrition demands. when mass tissue extends close to or into blood or lymph circulation, cells will break off and travel to other sites in the body resulting in metastasis if the cells are malignant.

you'll want to review the normal cell cycle from anatomy and physiology and how cell are "turned on" or "off" to divide and reproduce themselves. the process is called social control and is regulated by social control genes with specific names.

wow, that's really great pathophys on abnormal cell growth. my text book doesn't even come close to that. thank you so much!