What is a good tumour? Well, to common people, a non-malignant i.e. benign tumour is a good tumour. But is it really good? No, it’s only better than a malignant tumour. A benign tumour may cause pain and disfigurement. The most worrying fact is benign tumours may eventually mutate, turn cancerous and invade organs.
What Are Tumours?
A tumour is a cluster of cells that create an abnormal mass of tissue. If you have a tumour, your doctor will first figure out if it is benign or malignant. Though benign tumours sometimes cause pain, they are not as dangerous as malignant tumours. However, they are potentially harmful and could mutate, invade and spread over time.
Malignant tumours are a constellation of rogue cells or cancerous cells. They grow and spread faster. Moreover, if not treated, they will metastasize and eventually kill people.
Though it is easy to categorize tumours into ‘Benign’ or harmless and ‘Malignant’ or harmful, the distinction often falls into a grey zone. Still, differentiating between the two types is important.
What Are Benign Tumours?
Benign tumours are not harmful. In plain words, they are not cancerous and don’t pose a threat to your life. Like malignant tumours, benign tumours may grow in any part of your body. They don’t invade and spread and are mostly contained within the mass. However, some benign tumours grow abnormally and become cancerous over time.
Usually benign tumours grow slowly and so, some of them need no treatment. Others may cause pain and pose serious threats to health. These tumours may press on nearby nerves, blood vessels or organs, grow in the spinal cord or brain. Hence, painful or potentially dangerous tumours require surgical removal. After benign tumours are removed, they don’t usually come back.
What Are Malignant Tumours?
Malignant tumours have cancerous cells. These cells grow and multiply rapidly. They spread and invade nearby tissues. Cancerous cells have a tendency to break off primary tumours and metastasize to distant organs in the body.
When cancer becomes metastatic, oncologists first determine the original site of the tumour to decide the best cancer treatment in Kolkata. If cancer metastasizes and forms tumours in other organs, these tumours are called secondary tumours.