Essay on Cancer: Cortisol and Regional Lymph Node

Submitted By felkins
Words: 645
Pages: 3

Cancer and Stress Hormones

How quickly a tumor is likely to grow and spread is based on if the tissue is well-differentiated or poorly-differentiated. If the cells of the tumor and the organization of the tumor’s tissue are close to those of normal cells or tissue, the tumor is called well-differentiated. These tumors have the ability to grow and spread at a slower rate than tumors that are undifferentiated or poorly differentiated. This is what we would like to see in the pathology report because it will have a tendency to not grow quickly and will have a better chance in getting the cancer to go into remission. The well-differentiated will have abnormal-looking cells and may lack normal tissue structures. This would be a bad pathology report and the cancer will be harder to treat and may metastasize, this would be a very bad prognosis for a patient.
Based on these and other differences in microscopic appearance, doctors assign a numerical grade to most cancers. The tools used to determine tumor grade can vary between different types of cancer. Tumor grade is not the same as the stage of a cancer, these stages refers to the size and extent of the original tumor and whether or not cancer cells have spread in the body. Cancer stage is based on factors such as the location of the primary tumor size, tumor, regional lymph node involvement and the number of tumors present. The less the numeric grade of the tumor the lower the grade number will be, so this will be on the pathology report in most cases.
Catecholamines help to prepare the individual to cope with emergencies but are not needed to sustain life. The epinephrine and norepinephrine are alike with the effects of sympathetic nervous discharge. The effects comprise the cardiovascular and metabolic systems, they also have central nervous effects, and both increase alertness. Epinephrine causes anxiety and fear, Cortisol is a steroid hormone, in the glucocorticoid class of hormones, and is produced in humans by the zona fasciculata of the adrenal cortex within the adrenal gland. It is released in response to stress and low blood glucose.
The functions increase blood sugar through gluconeogenesis, this suppress the immune system, and to aid in the metabolism of fat and protein. This also decreases bone formation. The functions are that both are "stress" hormones, released in times of stress such as the flight-or-fight response. However, they differ in their actions in that catecholamines have various actions on the heart, blood vessels, kidney, liver and the several different catecholamines have opposite effects such as increasing/decreasing glucose levels or