Information on Benign Tumors
The term “benign” implies a mild and nonprogressive disease, and indeed, many kinds of benign tumor are harmless to the health. However, some neoplasms which are defined as ‘benign tumors’ because they lack the invasive properties of a cancer, may still produce negative health effects. Examples of this include tumors which produce a “mass effect” (compression of vital organs such as blood vessels), or “functional” tumors of endocrine tissues, which may overproduce certain hormones (examples include thyroid adenomas, adrenocortical adenomas, and pituitary adenomas).
Tumors are abnormal growths in your body. They are made up of extra cells. Normally, old cells die, and new ones take their place. Sometimes, however, this process goes wrong. New cells form even when you don’t need them, and old cells don’t die when they should. When these extra cells form a mass, it is called a tumor.Tumors can be either benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren’t cancer. Malignant ones are. Benign tumors grow only in one place. They cannot spread or invade other parts of your body. Even so, they can be dangerous if they press on vital organs, such your brain.
A benign tumor is one that does not spread or “metastasize” to other parts of the body; a “malignant tumor” is one that does. A benign tumor is caused by cell overgrowth, and thus is different from a cyst or an abcess, although benign is better news than malignant for a cancer biopsy, it does not always mean “harmless”, though many are almost harmless. A benign tumor may still grow, and this growth may cause damage to any organs, tissues, or nerves in its vicinity. Hence, a benign tumor can still cause serious illness and death if it presses on important areas. Benign tumors cause more than 13,000 annual deaths in the USA, compared to more than 500,000 annual deaths from cancer (i.e. from malignant tumors).
“Roughly 20 percent of women will be diagnosed with an ovarian cyst or tumor at some point in their life, and only a small percentage of these women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer,” said Lead Researcher Richard Moore, M.D., assistant professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a gynecologic oncologist in the Program in Women’s Oncology at Women & Infants’ Hospital of Rhode Island. “The problem is that current methods for distinguishing benign ovarian tumors from malignant ones are limited and as a result, women must undergo surgery without an accurate assessment as to their risk for having ovarian cancer prior to their surgery.”
Benign tumors tend to grow more slowly than malignant tumors and are less likely to cause health problems. But that doesn’t mean you can just forget about them. Colon polyps are benign tumors and most colon cancer develops from polyps. Benign tumor is basically a tumor that doesn’t come back and doesn’t spread to other parts of the body. A tumor is a mass of tissue that serves no useful purpose and generally exists at the expense of healthy tissues.
A benign tumor can be removed surgically if it is in a location that a surgeon can reach. A tumor growing in an unreachable area of the body can be treated using radiation (by which the patient is administered radioactive substances that target a specific area and destroy cells there). Another method is to insert thin probes into the tumor and freeze it with liquid nitrogen.
By: peterhutch
About the Author:
Tumors are abnormal growths in your body. They are made up of extra cells. Normally, old cells die, and new ones take their place. Sometimes, however, this process goes wrong. New cells form even when you don’t need them, and old cells don’t die when they should. When these extra cells form a mass, it is called a tumor.Tumors can be either benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren’t cancer. Malignant ones are. Benign tumors grow only in one place. They cannot spread or invade other parts of your body. Even so, they can be dangerous if they press on vital organs, such your brain.
A benign tumor is one that does not spread or “metastasize” to other parts of the body; a “malignant tumor” is one that does. A benign tumor is caused by cell overgrowth, and thus is different from a cyst or an abcess, although benign is better news than malignant for a cancer biopsy, it does not always mean “harmless”, though many are almost harmless. A benign tumor may still grow, and this growth may cause damage to any organs, tissues, or nerves in its vicinity. Hence, a benign tumor can still cause serious illness and death if it presses on important areas. Benign tumors cause more than 13,000 annual deaths in the USA, compared to more than 500,000 annual deaths from cancer (i.e. from malignant tumors).
“Roughly 20 percent of women will be diagnosed with an ovarian cyst or tumor at some point in their life, and only a small percentage of these women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer,” said Lead Researcher Richard Moore, M.D., assistant professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a gynecologic oncologist in the Program in Women’s Oncology at Women & Infants’ Hospital of Rhode Island. “The problem is that current methods for distinguishing benign ovarian tumors from malignant ones are limited and as a result, women must undergo surgery without an accurate assessment as to their risk for having ovarian cancer prior to their surgery.”
Benign tumors tend to grow more slowly than malignant tumors and are less likely to cause health problems. But that doesn’t mean you can just forget about them. Colon polyps are benign tumors and most colon cancer develops from polyps. Benign tumor is basically a tumor that doesn’t come back and doesn’t spread to other parts of the body. A tumor is a mass of tissue that serves no useful purpose and generally exists at the expense of healthy tissues.
A benign tumor can be removed surgically if it is in a location that a surgeon can reach. A tumor growing in an unreachable area of the body can be treated using radiation (by which the patient is administered radioactive substances that target a specific area and destroy cells there). Another method is to insert thin probes into the tumor and freeze it with liquid nitrogen.
By: peterhutch
About the Author:
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