pretty much new here, everyone on this bb seems really intelligent so i was wondering if anyone can help me figure out this oncology section of nursing. well i am a student and our instructors have "thrown" us into onco with no foundation to build on. I am soo confused about the drugs and classifications of tumors, nursing intervention ect.
I am probably being vague, but can sombody please help me with a "crash course". I have no experiance in onc and i dont plan on specializing in that area, so because of that it is hard for me to "make it understandable" (lack of vocab to express myself:imbar extremely tired and stressed)
I m not looking for a "short-cut" to learning just a foundation to build on... can anyone help;) ?
jule
15 Posts
i´ve been told about TNM-staging in school as well- and never met it again in ped.onc. but here is what i´ve beeen taught:
T means the size of the primary tumor (1small-4very large)
T depends on the localisation of the primary tumor.
that means E.G a small brain tumor COULD be worse than a
bigger bone-tumor
N means the involvement of lymh nodes
N1:the lymph node closest to the primary tumor is involved
N2:" " " most far away from the tumor is involved
N3as N2, but maybe with micrometastases in the blood (Don´t
know the english word)
M means metastases
M0 no met
M1 met close to the primary tumor
M2 met. far away from " "
Mx not known if there are met.
I learned in school that TNM can have additional "letters",
like Nc (c means "chirurg", that means surgeon, will say the involvement of nodes seen by the surgeon) or Np for involvement seen by the pathologist.
but as carol posted, there are so many different ways of staging ...