What is the difference between a benign tumor and a malignant tumor?

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A) Benign tumors arise by transformation; malignant tumors don't.
B) Benign tumors do not metastasize; malignant tumors do.
C) Benign tumors metastasize; malignant tumors don't.
E) Benign tumors do not arise by transformation; malignant tumors do.
I'm pretty sure it's B benign tumours are not cancerous where as malignant are and have the ability to "spread" (metastasize)  (+ info)

How can you tell the difference between a malignant tumor and a benighn tumor?

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Without A cat scan or MRI , What are the charecteristics of both do they feel different do they do different things like shrink or expand do all malignant tumors hurt?
One way of telling (but not a 100%) if the tumor is hard and won't move that is a sign that you need to see a Dr. ASAP. If the tumor is mushy and moves around then it is proble benighn but either way you need to a dr. This only works if the tumor is in a place where you can feel it. I am a nurse and this is what I have heard Dr.'s say repeatedly to their patients. I hope this helps.  (+ info)

What is the best option for a non malignant tumour on the spleen of a male 14 year Labrador?

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The lab also has a lump in his chest the size of a tennis ball which the Vet is reluctant to treat. His concern is more for the non malignant tumour on the spleen. He has advised surgery should the Lab become serious. The Lab also has small sized lumps over his body which are non threatening. Blood tests show there is no cancer. Otherwise he is happy, alert and his usual self.
'Reluctant to treat.' That's as far as I got. You need to get a new veterinarian!   (+ info)

How do doctors find out if a tumor is malignant?

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What procedure is done to see if a tumor is malignant? Is a simple MRI enough to make that conclusion?
When you have a MRI or CT scan, a radiologist can be fairly confident that a mass/tumor is either malignant or benign, in certain cases. For example, a lymph node has classic characteristics which cannot be confused with a cancer. A simple kidney cyst (which appears as a mass) can be diagnosed by ultrasound, MRI and CT scanning. It is hard to confuse a simple kidney cyst with anything that is malignant. When we do a CT or MRI scan, and a mass does not enhance with a contrast media (dye) injection, we can be fairly confident that the mass is benign. Malignant masses almost always enhance....but some benign masses also enhance.
There are many instances when a tumor does not fall into a clear cut category, and a tissue sample is needed to make a diagnosis. For example, on a mammogram, a mass might be found, and we can be very certain it is a malignant mass, but we do not know what type of breast cancer, until there is a biopsy and tissue sample.

My boyfriend had a grand mal seizure in June, and a CT scan found a fist sized brain tumor. The neurosurgeon and radiologist were both very confident it was a meningioma (benign), but it had to be removed due to its size. I still held my breath until the pathology report came back and reported it was indeed a meningioma.  (+ info)

What is the connection between malignant neoplasms and crabs?

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The more common term for malignant neoplasms, cancer, is Latin for crab, and the word "carcinogen," meaning a cancer-causing agent, comes from the Greek word for crab, "karkinos." What is the connection between these two seemingly unrelated things?
Cancer, both the disease and the astronomical constellation, derive from the Latin cancer or cancrum, meaning crab. The astrological sign, of course, is said to resemble a crab and the disease was so named by the ancient Greek physician Galen (129-200 A.D.) who noted the similarity between a certain type of tumor with a crab as well—the swollen veins around the tumor resembling the legs of a crab.

Old English adopted cancer directly from Latin and used it for a variety of spreading sores and ulcers. This early sense survives in the modern word canker. From c.1000 in a manuscript called Læce Boc (Leech Book), collected in Oswald Cockayne’s Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Vol. II, 1865:

Gemeng wið þam dustum, clæm on ðone cancer.
(Mix with the dust, smear on the cancer.)

And from Wyclif’s 2 Timothy, 1382:

The word of hem crepith as a kankir

The word was being applied specifically to the disease we today call cancer by the beginning of the 17th century. From Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Historie of the World:

Cancer is a swelling or sore comming of melancholy bloud, about which the veins appeare of a blacke or swert colour, spread in manner of a Creifish clees.

The astronomical sense of cancer is from the Latin name for the constellation of the crab. The name was known to the Anglo-Saxons, but only as a Latin name and was not assimilated into English until the Middle English period. It appears in Ælfric’s De Temporibus Anni, written c.993, in a list of the constellations of the Zodiac:

Feorða • Cancer • þæt is Crabba
(Fourth, Cancer, that is the crab.)

The Anglicized name appears c.1391 in Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe:

In this heved of cancer is the grettist declinacioun northward of the sonne...this signe of cancre is clepid the tropik of Somer.
(At this first point (head) of cancer is the greatest declination northward of the sun…this sign of cancer is named the tropic of summer.)

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)  (+ info)

Is it possible to fight a malignant cancer tumor in the spine?

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Well a friend of mine has a malignant cancer tumor in his spine near something in the spine that connects to the brain. This is very important question thank you.
YES. My lung cancer had spread to the spine and that is where it was first diagnosed. It was successfully (so far) treated with radiation therapy. I still have cancer in both lungs and that is being treated with chemo. Actually it isn't being treated in the sense that we expect a cure. The chemo treatments are for maintenance to (hopefully) keep the cancer from growing and/or spreading. I hope your friend is successfully treated for his/her cancer.  (+ info)

How long does melanoma (after a mole becomes malignant) take to spread and cause a person to die?

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Does it take years after malignancy of a mole or does melanoma spread within a few weeks as with other cancers? For example if someone has a mole (dysplastic nevi) for more than 2 years, could it be that this mole has been malignant for two years or longer?
Difficult to say as each person is an individual. Some cancers grow slower than others and some take off like wildfire and spread within a few weeks. Cancer means the uncontrollable growth of cells . . so the fact that they may grow quickly should never come as a surprise to anyone.

Death from malignancy is also an individual thing since much will depend on the overall health of the individual, age, and their response to treatment.

As for your question about how long it takes a mole to become malignant .. again it depends on the person. Some cancers can stay dormant for undetermined amount of time and than suddenly begin growing rapidly. No one knows why or we would be able to stop cancer.
That is why it is best to treat cancer when it is small and manageable because you never know when it is going to have a 'growth spurt' and spread like wildfire.  (+ info)

Can a diagnosed heart murmur become malignant?

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Can a diagnosed heart murmur become malignant further down the road?
If so what would be the signs that it has become malignant?
So you have a murmur and the doctor told you it is benign. That means that after ECHO cardiogram the doctor did not find any serious problem with your valves or holes in the walls of the heart. So don't worry about it now.
The opposite of Benign is not malignant in case of heart murmurs. If it is not benign we can call it pathological. That means there is some definite reason for the murmur like a valve problem or a septal defect. All murmurs are not serious. So if your doctor told you it is fine, don't worry about it at present. In future if you get any palpitation or shortness of breath you can have a re assessment with your cardiologist. It is unlikely that the present benign problem will progress to a serious one later.  (+ info)

What is the name of the syndrome that the person may appear to have facial characteristics of down's syndrome?

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I previously watched a documentary about sufferers of a syndrome whose facial features appeared to be down's syndrome but it wasn't down's syndrome. The grow to be quite large adults and have special needs. Does anyone know the name of this condition?
Klinefelter syndrome  (+ info)

Are there different types of Down syndrome and what areas of the body does Down syndrome affect? ?

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Also, are there any significant statistics related to Down syndrome? Has Down syndrome received any recent attention from the media? Are there any famous people that have Down syndrome.
Answer as many of the above questions as possible.
There are three types of Down syndrome, garden variety Trisomy 21, mosaicism and translocation.

Read more at:

Welcoming Babies with Down Syndrome (English, Spanish, French)
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32534.asp

There is a slide show that also incorporates videos of the featured 'More Alike than Different' cast at the National Down Syndrome Congress website:

http://www.ndsccenter.org/morealike/flash/

And great information at the National Down Syndrome Society website:
Down Syndrome Fact Sheet
http://www.ndss.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=35&Itemid=57

You might also enjoy

Margaret's Guide to Down Syndrome
http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2007/05/12/margarets-guide-to-down-syndrome/

For bios of actors with Down syndrome, see:

Down Syndrome and the Acting Gene
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art34198.asp

and

DS in Arts and Media
http://www.dsiam.org/

and

Michael Johnson
http://www.users.psln.com/sharing/Michael/mainMichael.html

and

Sujeet Desai
http://www.sujeet.com

Down Syndrome Links at the Family Village website
http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu/lib_down.htm

Check out this recent New York Times article:

The DNA Age: Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09down.html

Have fun with your research!
  (+ info)

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