Endocrine System Case Study

Joan Barker, age fifty-six years, comes for a routine physical examination. She states that she has been in perfect health and has no complaints. She has a history of asthma but currently requires no medications of any kind. Her physical examination is completely normal, except for a 2-cm firm, nontender, nonmobile mass in the upper outer quadrant of her left breast. She indicates that she does not perform regular breast self-examination and that she did not know the mass was there. She has no family history of breast cancer and has never been pregnant.

Answer the following questions about Ms. Barker’s condition:

* What term is used to describe the benign condition that may have caused Ms. Barker’s breast mass?

* What is inside the cysts of fibrocystic breast disease?

* Mammography and ultrasonography reveal a solid lesion (not cystic). What is the most common type of breast cancer?

* Biopsy determines that Ms. Barker has invasive carcinoma of the breast. What is the difference between ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive carcinoma of the breast?

* Ms. Barker’s breast cancer has metastasized to her lungs. What is the difference between metastatic lung cancer and primary lung cancer?

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

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