While benign tumors generally don't invade and spread, malignant cells are more likely to metastasize, or travel to other areas of the body. They also grow faster. While it may seem easy to categorize benign tumors as harmless and malignant tumors as harmful, the distinctions are often more of a gray area.
Other benign tumors can spread or become cancerous (metastasize). They can sometimes be treated effectively with medication or your doctor may recommend removing the tumor. Additional treatment techniques to reduce the risk of fracture and disability may be considered.
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.
A benign tumor is a mass of cells (tumor) that does not invade neighboring tissue or metastasize (spread throughout the body). Compared to malignant (cancerous) tumors, benign tumors generally have a slower growth rate. Benign tumors have relatively well differentiated cells.
Alexandra Gangi: Like all tumors, a benign tumor is a mass of abnormal cells. But unlike malignant (cancerous) tumors, they can't move into neighboring tissue or spread to other parts of the body.
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 as your brain.
Benign (non-cancerous) brain tumours can usually be successfully removed with surgery and do not usually grow back. It often depends on whether the surgeon is able to safely remove all of the tumour. If there's some left, it can either be monitored with scans or treated with radiotherapy.
“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.”
Benign tumors generally do not cause death or serious illness unless they are very large, such as some benign ovarian tumors, or if they affect a critical organ that makes it difficult to operate on and remove them, such as tumors in the brain.
What are the most common sites of metastatic cancer? The most common sites for cancers to metastasize include the lungs, liver, bones and brain. Other places include the adrenal gland, lymph nodes, skin and other organs. Sometimes, a metastasis will be found without a known primary cancer (point of origin).
Benign tumours are not cancerous and only grow in one place. They do not spread or invade other parts of the body, but can be dangerous if they press on vital organs, such as the brain. Treatment for benign tumours, if required, usually involves surgery. Once treated, benign tumours don't usually grow back.
Malignant tumours are made up of cancer cells. They: usually grow faster than benign tumours. spread into surrounding tissues and cause damage.
Most metastases, however, occur within 10 years after removal of the primary tumor.
Noncancerous: Benign tumors are not cancerous and are rarely life-threatening. They're localized, which means they don't typically affect nearby tissue or spread to other parts of the body. Many noncancerous tumors don't need treatment. But some noncancerous tumors press on other body parts and do need medical care.
Benign tumors usually don't grow back.
In most cases, the outlook with benign tumors is very good. But benign tumors can be serious if they press on vital structures such as blood vessels or nerves. Therefore, sometimes they require treatment and other times they do not.
Because they aren't cancerous they can often be successfully treated, but they're still serious and can be life threatening. If the tumour can't be completely removed, there's a risk it could grow back.
Follow-up appointments. Non-cancerous brain tumours can sometimes grow back after treatment, so you'll have regular follow-up appointments to check for signs of this.
stage 3 – the cancer is larger and may have spread to the surrounding tissues and/or the lymph nodes (or "glands", part of the immune system) stage 4 – the cancer has spread from where it started to at least 1 other body organ, also known as "secondary" or "metastatic" cancer.
Even benign tumors can be uncomfortable. If you feel or see a lump, visit an oncologist for an examination. If the doctor confirms that you have a malignant tumor, you will likely feel some uncertainty and fear. However, you can have peace of mind that the doctor will develop an effective treatment plan.
In metastasis, cancer cells break away from where they first formed (primary cancer), travel through the blood or lymph system, and form new tumors (metastatic tumors) in other parts of the body. The metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor.
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. This would warrant urgent surgical removal.
MRI is very good at zeroing in on some kinds of cancers. By looking at your body with MRI, doctors may be able to see if a tumor is benign or cancerous. According to the World Health Organization, survival rates for many types of cancer are significantly higher with early detection.
Treating non-cancerous brain tumours
But sometimes tumours do grow back or become cancerous. If all of the tumour cannot be removed, other treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy, may be needed to control the growth of the remaining abnormal cells.