Cell-cycle nonspecific drugs, such as alkylating agents, can damage cancer cells in any phase of the cell cycle.
Correct Answer
True
True. Cell-cycle nonspecific drugs act whether a cell is resting or dividing, whereas cell-cycle specific drugs act in only one phase. Regimens often combine both types.
Category: Cancer Basics
Question 2
Chemotherapy drugs act only on cancer cells and spare normal, rapidly dividing cells.
Correct Answer
False
False. Most chemotherapy targets rapidly dividing cells of any kind, so bone marrow, hair follicles and the GI lining are also damaged. This explains myelosuppression, hair loss and mucositis.
Category: Cancer Basics
Question 3
Germline mutations such as those in BRCA1 can be passed to offspring, whereas somatic mutations are acquired in body cells and affect only the person who carries them.
Correct Answer
True
True. Germline mutations are present in egg or sperm cells and can be inherited. Somatic mutations, such as those caused by carcinogens, are acquired in body cells during life and are not passed on.
Category: Cancer Basics
Question 4
Cancer cells keep normal contact inhibition and stop dividing when they touch neighboring cells.
Correct Answer
False
False. Cancer cells lose contact inhibition, so they keep dividing and piling up even when crowded. Losing this control helps tumors grow and invade.
Category: Cancer Basics
Question 5
Tumors can stimulate the growth of new blood vessels to supply their metabolic needs.
Correct Answer
True
True. This process, called neoangiogenesis, gives a growing tumor oxygen and nutrients. Some targeted cancer drugs work partly by blocking it.
Category: Cancer Basics
Question 6
Maintenance chemotherapy is the phase designed to produce the first remission.
Correct Answer
False
False. Induction therapy aims to produce remission. Maintenance therapy comes later and is the longest phase, given to prevent the cancer from returning.
Category: Treatment Approaches
Question 7
Doxorubicin can turn the urine red or orange, a harmless effect patients should be told about in advance.
Correct Answer
True
True. Anthracyclines such as doxorubicin are red and color the urine and other body fluids. Warning the patient prevents fear that the change is blood.
Category: Antitumor and Plant Drugs
Question 8
Anthracycline-related heart failure appears only during treatment and does not develop after therapy ends.
Correct Answer
False
False. Anthracycline cardiotoxicity depends on the cumulative dose and can appear years after treatment. Cumulative doses are recorded and survivors need long-term cardiac follow-up.
Category: Antitumor and Plant Drugs
Question 9
Fluorouracil is an alkylating agent that cross-links DNA strands.
Correct Answer
False
False. Fluorouracil is a pyrimidine antimetabolite that mimics a building block of DNA and RNA. Alkylating agents such as cyclophosphamide are the drugs that cross-link DNA.
Category: Alkylating and Antimetabolite Drugs
Question 10
Nitrosoureas such as carmustine cross the blood-brain barrier and are used for brain tumors.
Correct Answer
True
True. Nitrosoureas are lipid-soluble alkylating agents that reach the brain, which makes them useful for tumors such as glioblastoma.
Category: Alkylating and Antimetabolite Drugs
Question 11
Chemotherapy-related hair loss is usually permanent.
Correct Answer
False
False. Hair loss from chemotherapy is usually temporary, and regrowth typically begins within months after treatment ends. Its effect on body image is still significant and deserves nursing support.
Category: Chemotherapy Toxicity
Question 12
Patients receiving chemotherapy should avoid live vaccines because of their weakened immunity.
Correct Answer
True
True. Live vaccines contain weakened organisms that can cause infection in an immunosuppressed person. Patients should consult the provider before any vaccine.
Category: Chemotherapy Toxicity
Question 13
Epoetin alfa is given to stimulate platelet production in patients with chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia.
Correct Answer
False
False. Epoetin alfa stimulates red blood cell production to treat anemia. Low platelet counts are managed with bleeding precautions and, when needed, platelet transfusion.
Category: Chemotherapy Toxicity
Question 14
Tamoxifen increases the risk of uterine cancer and blood clots, such as pulmonary embolism.
Correct Answer
True
True. Tamoxifen raises the risk of endometrial cancer, stroke and venous thromboembolism. Patients are taught to report abnormal vaginal bleeding, calf pain, chest pain or shortness of breath.
Category: Hormonal Therapy
Question 15
Aromatase inhibitors such as anastrozole work by increasing the body's production of estrogen.
Correct Answer
False
False. Aromatase inhibitors block the enzyme that makes estrogen, lowering estrogen levels and slowing estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. They are used mainly in postmenopausal patients.
Category: Hormonal Therapy
Question 16
Flutamide can cause serious liver injury, so liver enzymes are monitored during therapy.
Correct Answer
True
True. Flutamide, an antiandrogen for prostate cancer, carries a boxed warning for liver failure, so liver function is checked periodically and patients report jaundice or dark urine.
Category: Hormonal Therapy
Question 17
Bicalutamide is an antiandrogen used mainly to treat breast cancer in women.
Correct Answer
False
False. Bicalutamide blocks androgen receptors and is used to treat prostate cancer. Breast cancer is treated with hormonal drugs that block estrogen or its production.
Category: Hormonal Therapy
Question 18
Patients receiving rituximab are often premedicated with acetaminophen and diphenhydramine to reduce infusion reactions.
Correct Answer
True
True. Rituximab carries a boxed warning for fatal infusion-related reactions, most often with the first infusion, so premedication is given and emergency drugs such as epinephrine are kept available.
Category: Biologic Response Modifiers
Question 19
Pembrolizumab fights cancer by suppressing T lymphocyte activity.
Correct Answer
False
False. Pembrolizumab blocks the PD-1 checkpoint on T cells, which increases their activity so they recognize and kill cancer cells more readily.
Category: Biologic Response Modifiers
Question 20
Erlotinib is an oral targeted drug that blocks the epidermal growth factor receptor.
Correct Answer
True
True. By blocking EGFR signaling, erlotinib slows the growth of tumors that depend on it, such as some non-small cell lung cancers.
Category: Biologic Response Modifiers