Tumors and cancer are the same thing

Many people think that a tumor is cancer, but in fact, the two are not exactly the same thing. Tumors in a broad sense include benign tumors, borderline tumors and malignant tumors, and strictly speaking, only malignant tumors can be called "cancer".

Not all tumors are cancerous

Tumors in a broad sense, called neoplasms in English, include benign, malignant, and borderline tumors in between. Strictly speaking, only malignant tumors are cancers, called cancer in English.

Malignant tumors, that is, cancer, are normal cells, under the action of certain carcinogenic factors, the genes that control cell growth are mutated, and the ability to grow infinitely and leave the original site is acquired, the former leads to the formation of irregularly arranged masses without physiological functions, the latter leads to damage to adjacent tissues and organs and abnormal cells to the clinical manifestations of distant organs. In addition to hair, nails and heart, cancer occurs in other tissue cells.

Normally, the vast majority of cancerous cells are recognized and eliminated by the body's immune system. But when the immune system is low, or some cells gain the ability to evade the body's immune system surveillance, they will survive, continue to grow, and eventually form malignant tumors. These cancerous cells are mainly derived from three major tissue types: epithelial tissue, mesenchymal tissue, and hematopoietic system.

In general, malignant tumors that grow in epithelial tissue are called "cancers". For example, the well-known lung cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer and so on. However, some tumors that are not called "cancer" are also "cancers" because they all have the characteristics of malignant tumors. These include malignant tumors derived from embryonic cells or immature blast cells, which are called marmomas, such as nephroblastoma and retinoblastoma, which are highly malignant tumors.

Of course, not all marmomas are malignant, such as liposcloma, angioblastoma, chondroblastoma, osteoblastoma are benign tumors, and most of them will not recur after surgical resection.

Another large category of cancers that are not called "cancers" originate from mesophyllous tissues, such as fibroblasts, vascular wall lymphoid tissues, muscles, bones, and soft tissues, called sarcomas, and are all malignant tumors without exception. Common sarcomas are fibrosarcoma, liposarcoma, lymphosarcoma, hemangioepithelial sarcoma, osteosarcoma and so on.

Tumors originating from the hematopoietic system also do not bear the name "cancer", such as leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma are real cancers.

What is more interesting is that some diseases that are not called "cancer", "sarcoma", "parent cell tumor" and "lymphoma" are actually cancers, and the common ones are gastrointestinal stromal tumors.

Where is the benign tumor "good"

Of course, if you add the word "benign" in front of the name of the disease, it must be a benign tumor.

In contrast to malignant tumors, benign tumors do not have malignant manifestations. They do not have the ability to grow indefinitely, nor do they have the ability to transfer far away. The former makes the tumor grow very slowly, and may stop growing after growing to a certain extent; the latter makes the tumor not affect the normal physiological function of neighboring tissue cells, at most squeezing nearby tissues and organs to obtain living space, and will not run to distant organs to "settle" and "destroy". For example, fibroids and lipomas under the epidermis of the body, most of them grow slowly, have clear boundaries, and can slide under the skin when pushed with their fingers. Most benign tumors do not change viciously, but under the action of new carcinogenic factors, some tumor cells may undergo secondary mutations, and after gaining unlimited growth ability, they will also become cancerous.

There is also a special type of tumor, that is, the bordering tumor between benign and malignant. Its morphology is benign, but the cell hyperplasia is active, and the degree of malignancy is not enough, such as only local recurrence, no distant metastasis, clinicians are difficult to estimate the recurrence of the tumor is because the resection is not complete or the tumor itself belongs to the malignant category, we often summarize the characteristics of this type of tumor - benign tumor, malignant behavior. For example, ovarian junction serous cystic adenoma, junctional mucostic cystic tumor, borderline clear cell tumor, ligament-like tumors derived from soft tissues, atypical fibroxanthoma, epithelioid angioendothelioma, inflammatory myofibroblastoma and the like.

Whether it is cancer or not, how should it be judged

In fact, the ultimate determination of whether it is cancer depends on the biological behavior of the tumor and its harm to the body. Most cancers tend to grow faster and have the ability to invade local tissues and distant metastasis, thus destroying the structure and function of adjacent organs, having a serious impact on the body, and life-threatening if not treated in time. Even after treatment, there is a risk of relapse and metastasis, and eventually some patients die as a result.

Tumors and cancers, there is no difference in prognosis

Through the above description of benign and malignant tumors, it should be clear that malignant tumors (cancers) can endanger the lives of patients, and that failure to treat or fail treatment will lead to the death of patients; and the more advanced the tumor, the more harmful it is. Conversely, the vast majority of benign tumors usually do not directly cause death unless they block the respiratory tract and compress the nervous system that controls vital organs (the heart and lungs).

In summary, tumors are not all cancers, cancer is just tumors with malignant behavior. When some tumors are not literally good at judging benign or malicious, it is still recommended to consult an oncologist to avoid unnecessary fear and fear by mistakenly thinking that it is a malignant tumor; or mistakenly thinking that it is a benign tumor and delaying the timing of treatment.

Author: Expert of the National Health Science Popularization Expert Database

Li Liren, chief physician of the Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University

Curator: Tan Jia

Editor: Liu Yang