Benign And Malignant Conditions

Question 1

Neoplasm

Answer 1

New and abnormal growth, especially as a characteristic of cancer

Question 2

What are benign tumour characteristics?

Answer 2

Slow growing
Usually encapsulated
Doesn’t invade tissue
Minimal normal tissue destruction
Histological appearance similar to ‘normal’ tissue
Do not metastasise
Unlikely to ulcerate
Symptoms due to size/position
Tends to not reoccur if removed

Question 3

Benign tumour examples

Answer 3

Chondroma → cartilage tissue
Lipoma → fatty tissue
Adenoma → glandular epithelium
Myoma → muscle tissue
Leiomyoma → smooth muscle
Rhabdomyoma → skeletal muscle

Question 4

What are malignant tumour characteristics?

Answer 4

Variable or rapid growth
Rarely encapsulated
Metastasise
Varied histological tissue
Likely to cause ulceration
May recur
Produces typical cancer cachexia
Affect the body, resulting in death if not treated

Question 5

Cancer cells vs. Normal cells

Answer 5

Structurally cancer cells and normal cells are similar, the difference is that cancer cells have small cytoplasm, multiple nuclei, multiple and large nucleoli and coarse chromatin in comparison to normal cells