Benign tumors are not usually problematic. However, they can become large and compress structures nearby, causing pain or other medical complications. For example, a large benign lung tumor could compress the trachea (windpipe) and cause difficulty in breathing.
Benign tumors may be large enough to detect, particularly if they're close to the skin. However, most aren't large enough to cause discomfort or pain. They can be removed if they are. Lipomas, for example, may be large enough to detect, but are generally soft, movable, and painless.
A benign tumor has distinct, smooth, regular borders. A malignant tumor has irregular borders and grows faster than a benign tumor. A malignant tumor can also spread to other parts of your body. A benign tumor can become quite large, but it will not invade nearby tissue or spread to other parts of your body.
Often, cancer does not cause pain, so do not wait to feel pain before seeing a doctor. To learn more about symptoms for a specific cancer, see the list of PDQ® cancer treatment summaries for adult and childhood cancers.
While many benign tumors do not need treatment, some do, especially if they are causing symptoms. Usually if a benign tumor requires treatment, we remove it surgically. Whenever possible, we use minimally invasive techniques, which require small incisions and have minimal recovery time.
There is no way to tell from symptoms alone if a tumor is benign or malignant. Often an MRI scan can reveal the tumor type, but in many cases, a biopsy is required.
“Most benign tumors aren't life-threatening. They can be left alone as they are unlikely to cause damage to any other areas of your body. In fact, many individuals carry benign tumors that don't require treatment, such as moles, throughout their lives.”
Bumps that are cancerous are typically large, hard, painless to the touch and appear spontaneously. The mass will grow in size steadily over the weeks and months.
They can feel firm or soft. Benign masses are more likely to be painful to the touch, such as with an abscess. Benign tumors also tend to grow more slowly, and many are smaller than 5 cm (2 inches) at their longest point. Sarcomas (cancerous growths) more often are painless.
Brain and spinal cord cancers
Tumors around your brain or spinal cord can put pressure on the surrounding nerves and structures, leading to pain. This can also cause other symptoms like seizures, trouble with movement, and sensory problems.
Benign tumors of soft tissue are more common than benign tumors of bone. They can occur at almost any site, both within and between muscles, ligaments, nerves, and blood vessels.
A benign neoplasm looks a lot like the tissue with normal cells from which it originated, and has a slow growth rate. Benign neoplasms do not invade surrounding tissues and they do not metastasize. Thus, characteristics include: Slow growth.
But not all tumors are malignant, or cancerous, and not all are aggressive. Benign tumors, while sometimes painful and potentially dangerous, do not pose the threat that malignant tumors do. "Malignant cells are more likely to metastasize [invade other organs]," says Fernando U.
The best test to determine whether a cyst or tumor is benign or malignant is a biopsy. This procedure involves removing a sample of the affected tissue — or, in some cases, the entire suspicious area — and studying it under a microscope.
Lumps that could be cancer might be found by imaging tests or felt as lumps during a physical exam, but they still must be sampled and looked at under a microscope to find out what they really are. Not all lumps are cancer. In fact, most tumors are not cancer.
Benign tumors tend to grow slowly and have distinct borders. Benign tumors are not usually problematic. However, they can become large and compress structures nearby, causing pain or other medical complications.
They may feel like small peas beneath the surface of the skin. They usually feel smooth and may roll under the skin when pressure is applied to them. If you look closely, you will see a small opening to the surface, called an epidermal pore.
Both benign and malignant masses can be rounded and mobile. Only when cancers are quite advanced are they fixed to skin or the underlying chest wall, and not moveable.
There is no credible evidence that massage spreads cancer. In fact, many cancer patients find massage helpful, improving their overall psychological wellbeing and relieving some symptoms related to treatment.
People with cancer should avoid very deep massage. Gentler types may be safer. Some people worry that having a massage when you have cancer may make the cancer cells travel to other parts of the body. But no research has proved this to be true.
Cancer pain can be described as dull aching, pressure, burning, or tingling. The type of pain often gives clues about the sources of the pain. For example, pain caused by damage to nerves is usually described as burning or tingling, whereas pain affecting internal organs is often described as a sensation of pressure.
Non-cancerous brain tumours tend to stay in one place and don't spread. They won't usually come back if all of the tumour can be safely removed during surgery. Because they aren't cancerous they can often be successfully treated, but they're still serious and can be life threatening.
When a benign tumor requires treatment, it isn't too different from the treatment of a malignant or cancerous tumor. It may be radiation therapy, radiosurgery for benign tumors located in the skull base, surgery or chemotherapy.
2 While benign tumors are not cancerous, some of them can grow very large (sometimes up to several pounds) if left untreated.
Even though most benign tumors are harmless and can be left alone, it's important they be monitored. And any tumor that is painful or growing requires a visit to the doctor.