Systemic Pathology - Oncological Pathology

Code:

MI506

Acronym:

APEPO

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2014/2015 - SP

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	http://medicina.med.up.pt/ape
Responsible unit:	Departamento de Patologia e Oncologia
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	289	Mestrado Integrado em Medicina 2007	5	-	3,5	37	94,5
		Mestrado Integrado em Medicina- Plano oficial 2013 (Reforma Curricular)	5	-	3,5	37	94,5

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The main goal of Systemic Pathology - Oncological Pathology is to create the conditions that will enable students to learn pathology from clinicopathology cases, using a “translational” approach, with the following specific aims:

- To identify the gene-environmental interactions behind the pathogenesis of different types of cancer;

- To apply the knowledge from basic and oncological pathology for the interpretation of the clinical expression of the most common types of cancer;

- To analyze the capacity of intervention in the fields of diagnosis, prognostic assessment and therapy selection.

Another aim of the curricular unit is to expose the students to the new biomedical knowledge applied to Oncology.

Learning outcomes and competences

The syllabus encompass topics that will allow the students to understand the pathogenesis of cancer; to identify the gene-environmental factors behind its development; to identify the genetic and molecular changes that can be used as biomarkers for diagnosis, prognostic assessment and/or as targets for personalized therapy.

Working method

Presencial

Program

The curricular unit is organized according to main thematic groups:

Introduction to Oncology;

Lung and pleura cancers;

Cancers of the esophagus and stomach;

Colo-rectal and liver cancers;

Lymphomas and leukemias;

Tumours of the thyroid and other endocrine organs;

Breast cancer;

Urogenital cancer;

Tumours of the central nervous system.

Mandatory literature

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine , 2012. ISBN: 0071466339
Lehmann LE, Anupindi S, Harris NL; Case 18-2003. A 15-year-old girl with pain in the left leg and back, pruritus, and thoracic lymphadenopathy (N Engl J Med 2003; 348:2443-251.)
Tanabe K, Blaszkowsky L, Chung R, Blake M, Lauwers G; Case 23-2005: A 57-Year-Old Man with a Mass in the Liver (N Engl J Med 2005;353:401-10.)
Foss F, Aquino S, Ferry J; Case 10-2003: A 72-Year-Old Man with Rapidly Progressive Leukemia, Rash, and Multiorgan Failure (N Engl J Med 2003;348:1267-75.)
Blaszkowsky LS, Cusack JC Jr, Hong TS, Chung DC, Blake MA, Lennerz JK; Case 13-2011. A 49-year-old man with adenocarcinoma of the rectum (N Engl J Med 2011; 364:1658-168.)

Teaching methods and learning activities

The teaching of Systemic Pathology - Oncological Pathology (94.5 hours/student, 37 h of contact teaching) encompasses several methodologies described below.

Lectures devoted to introduction of the topics; discussion sessions dedicated to the analysis of the practical applications of the theorical knowledge to specific cancer models; clinicopathological conferences with clinicians and pathologists; tutorial sessions devoted to the observation, description and identification of the clinocopathological features of specific types of cancer, aiming at the interpretation/explanation of the clinical features and identification of the biomarkers that can be used for diagnosis, prognostic evaluation and therapy selection.

Different types of documents are available online (medicina.med.up.pt), including: programme, time schedule, methodology of the evaluation, texts and scientific papers on topics that are not fully addressed in textbooks, to be analyzed and discussed with the students in the frame of practical and tutorial sessions.

keywords

Health sciences > Medical sciences > Medicine > Oncology
Health sciences > Medical sciences > Medicine > Pathological anatomy

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	91,00
Participação presencial	9,00
Total:	100,00

Eligibility for exams

The assessment includes continuous assessment and a written exam at the end of the curricular unit. The students who do not obtain a sufficient average in this exam or did not take the exam are offered the possibility of applying for a “final” exam.

The continuous assessment is based on “mini-tests” (one per day, nine in total). The “mini-test” is done at the beginning of each contact session with the students, and evaluates knowledge on the respective topic according to the calendar previously distributed (it is expected that students study the documents indicated by the teaching team, part of them available at the site of the curricular unit). Each “mini-test” is made of 5 questions (“true or false” model, each 0.04 values). The classification attributable to each “mini-test” is 0.2 values and to the global continuous assessment 1.8 values (9 “mini-tests” x 0.2 values=1.8 values).

In case a student is not able to do a “mini-test”, the respective classification is not attributed unless a valid justification is presented (medical certificate). In this case there is room for an increase in the value of each question (please see final classification).

The exam of the curricular unit consists of a Written Exam with 91 multiple-choice questions, encompassing a Theoretical Exam (73 questions, each 0.2 values) and a Practical Exam with documents (slides representing macroscopic, histological and other lesions, shown during the seminars) (18 questions, each 0.2 values). In the Theoretical Exam, wrong answers to some questions (n=18) are penalized by a discount (one wrong answer discounts one correct answer). The highest classification attributable to the Theoretical and Practical exams are 14.6 and 3.6 values, respectively. The format of the “final” exam is similar to the exam of the curricular unit.

To be approved in the curricular unit, a minimum average of 9.5 is required. There will be no oral exam.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final classification: Sum of the classifications obtained in Theoretical Exam, Practical Exam and Continuous Assessment. The highest classification attributable to each component of the classification system is the following:

Theoretical Exam - 14.6 values;

Practical Exam - 3.6 values;

Continuous assessment - 1.8 values.

In case a student is not able to do “mini-test(s)” and presents a valid justification, there is room for an increase in the value of each question of the respective exam and in the value of each “mini-test” (Example: 0.202 instead of 0.2 values, in case one “mini-test” is not done).

Observations

In an attempt to integrate the study of the discipline into the clinical context, we suggest Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (18th edition, 2012) and “Case records” of the Massachusetts General Hospital (published in The New England Journal of Medicine) will also be used, listed above under Bibliography.

Chapters of the Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine:

81. Approach to the patient with cancer (646-654);

82. Prevention and early detection of cancer (655-663);

89. Neoplasms of the lung (737-753);

90. Breast cancer (754-763);

91. Gastrointestinal tract cancer (764-774);

92. Tumors of the liver and biliary tree (777-785);

94. Bladder and renal cell carcinomas (790-792);

95. Benign and malignant diseases of the prostate (796-805);

96. Testicular cancer (806-810);

110. Malignancies of lymphoid cells (919-935);

111. Plasma cell disorders (936-944);

339. Disorders of the anterior pituitary and hypothalamus (2876-2902);

341. Disorders of the thyroid gland (2911-2939);

342. Disorders of the adrenal cortex (2940-2961);

343. Pheochromocytoma (2962-2967);

350. Endocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas (3056-3072);

351. Disorders affecting multiple endocrine systems (3072-3081);

379. Primary and metastatic tumors of the nervous system (3382-3394).