What are benign and malignant tumours?

A tumour is essentially a swelling. The cells of a benign (innocent) tumour look normal under the microscope and there is no suggestion of them invading other tissues. The individual cells and their nuclei have similar shapes to that of normal cells. Malignant cells and their nuclei have different shapes and they invade and destroy surrounding tissues.

There are many specialised cells in the body, each having its own function. Each can form innocent or malignant tumours. There are a large variety of tumours with different causes and thus cancer is not one disease. Each cancer may have its own set of symptoms. The different cancers respond to treatment in different ways.

Please click on the required question.