Cancer is a disease that can be almost anywhere in the living body. It is caused when abnormal or damaged cells start growing and multiplying uncontrollably while DNA gets damaged during the cell division process which results in forming lumps of tissue in certain parts of the body. These tumors when grow near vital organs such as the lungs, colon, or prostate largely press on the nerve that restricts the blood flow and develop glandlike cells in nearby tissues. This paper explores causes of tumor and cancer, what forms tumors in the body, and compares and contrasts the similarities and differences of tumor and cancer.
What Forms Tumors in the Body?
Naturally, body cells grow and multiply new cells through the process of cell division in a human body because the body needs to get rid of the old and damaged cells. It requires new cells to continue performing functions while they grow and spread to every part of the body and replace old ones. Sometimes, DNA gets damaged which develops abnormal cells, new cells take their place and carry out their functions. However, damaged cells, instead of dying off, multiply faster than the immune system can handle naturally. Resultantly, this orderly cell division process breaks down which results in multiplying abnormal cells that form tumors in the body. These tumors are actually the lump of tissue which can be cancerous (malignant) or non-cancerous (benign) that may travel to distant places in the body to form new tumors (Frank, 2002).
Tumor
When a doctor tells a person that he/she has a tumor in his/her body, the person freaks out and likely thinks of cancer. In fact, many tumors are not cancerous and they do not invade or spread into nearby cells or tissues. However, some tumors can be really dangerous and life-threatening such as benign tumor in the brain. A tumor is developed in the body when a lump or lesion is formed due to abnormal cellular growth in a certain part of the body. Thus, by definition, a tumor is a physiological alteration that is an abnormal mass in our body tissue (Boutry et al., 2022). Contrary to benign tumors, cancerous or malignant tumors even when removed grow back and cause serious risk to one’s life.
Cancer
Some tumors turn out to be cancerous but this does not mean cancer and tumor are synonymous with each other. In the case of cancer, the cellular growth in the tumor and nearby area is uncontrollable rather it multiplies and spreads causing the tumor to become malignant. So, by definition, cancer is a disease that develops when an individual has a malignant tumor. Unlike normal (benign) tumors, primary growth in cancer tumors can generate several secondary growths that become uncontrollable. Such tumors invade vital parts of the body, grow damaged cells and lumps of tissues, and spread everywhere (Levshin et al., 1998).
Similarities and Differences
A tumor can be benign, not invading the nearby space of the body, but cancer always arises from the development of a malignant tumor. Both cancer and tumor can be detected with an MRI scan. A tumor is a physiological alteration in the body that does not require any form of treatment as this condition goes by itself. However, cancer is a serious disease that requires appropriate treatment such as surgery or chemotherapy to remove the tumor from the body. Moreover, a tumor is not a disease rather it is just a physical alteration but cancer is a serious disease that poses danger to a human’s health who has developed a malignant tumor in his/her body (Frank, 2002). Furthermore, if there is a benign tumor in the body, there is no risk that it metastasizes to other organs or tissues of the body but cancer has the ability to metastasize due to the development of a malignant tumor which can replicate itself and spreads to the other parts of the body.
Bottom Lines
In a nutshell, a person needs to understand that cancer and benign tumor both are tumors but not all tumors are cancers. On the contrary, all cancers are tumors with a survival rate that depends on the location, size, and type of malignant tumor the cancer victim’s body has developed. That is, while malignant tumors always cause cancer in a specific area of the body where they develop, not all tumors are malignant. Other tumors can be benign that can only expand or shift but do not cause serious harm to the body. A benign tumor does not replicate, spread, replace, invade, or destroy the body cell. Thus, cancer can be fatal but the tumor does not have to.
References
Boutry, J., Tissot, S., Ujvari, B., Capp, J.-P., Giraudeau, M., Nedelcu, A. M., & Thomas, F. (2022). The evolution and ecology of benign tumors. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Reviews on Cancer, 1877(1), 188643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbcan.2021.188643
Frank, A. W. (2002). At the will of the body: Reflections on illness. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Levshin, V., Pikhut, P., Yakovleva, I., & Lazarev, I. (1998). Benign lesions and cancer of the breast. European Journal of Cancer Prevention, 7(1), S37–S40.
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