NOMENCLATURE

Comparison between benign & malignant tumor.

Aplasia
The complete or partial failure of tissue or an organ to develop.

Agenesis
Agenesis means incomplete development, or the failure of any part or organ of the body to develop normally.

Atrophy
Atrophy occurs when normal tissue, an organ or even the whole body wastes because the constituent cells die. Undernourishment, disease, injury, lack of use or AGEING may cause atrophy. Muscular atrophy occurs in certain neurological diseases such as POLIOMYELITIS or MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY. The ovary (see OVARIES) atrophies at the MENOPAUSE.

The increase in size which takes place in an organ as the result of an increased amount of work demanded of it by the bodily economy. For example, when valvular disease of the heart is present, compensation occurs by an increase in thickness of the heart muscle, and the organ, by beating more powerfully, is able to overtake the strain thrown upon it. Similarly, if one kidney is removed, the other hypertrophies or grows larger to take over the double workload.

Hypertrophy

Hyperplasia
Hyperplasia means an abnormal increase in the number of cells in a tissue.

Hypoplasia
Excessive smallness of an organ or part, arising from imperfect development.

Cancer
The general term used to refer to a malignant TUMOUR, irrespective of the tissue of origin. Malignancy indicates that (i) the tumour is capable of progressive growth, unrestrained by the capsule of the parent organ, and/or (ii) that it is capable of distant spread via lymphatics or the bloodstream, resulting in development of secondary deposits of tumour known as metastases. Microscopically, cancer cells appear different from the equivalent normal cells in the affected tissue. In particular they may show a lesser degree of differentiation (i.e. they are more primitive), features indicative of a faster proliferative rate and disorganised alignment in relationship to other cells or blood vessels. The diagnosis of cancer usually depends upon the observation of these microscopic features in biopsies, i.e. tissue removed surgically for such examination.

A malignant tumour of the PLEURA, the membrane lining the chest cavity. The condition is more common in people exposed to asbestos dust. It may be asymptomatic or cause pain, cough, and breathing troubles. Surgery or radiotherapy may be effective but often the disease has spread too far before it is discovered. Mesothelioma incurred as a result of contact with asbestos at work may attract industrial COMPENSATION.

Mesothelioma

The term applied to a change of one kind of tissue into another. Although not usually harmful, it may be pre cancerous if occurring in the cervix (neck of the womb or UTERUS), URINARY BLADDER, or lining of the airways (bronchi).

Metaplasia

Metastasis, and metastatic, are terms applied tothe process by which malignant disease spreads to distant parts of the body, and also to the secondary tumours resulting from this process. For example, a cancer of the breast may produce

Metastasis

metastatic growths in the glands of the armpit; cancer of the stomach may be followed by metastases in the liver. Metastases are colloquially known as secondaries and their spread occurs through the bloodstream, lymphatic system and across the body cavities. Highly malignant tumours for example, melanomas are especially prone to spread far and fast. (See CANCER.)

Abnormal development of cells, tissues or structures in the body.

Dysplasia

or polyp (plural: polypi). A general name applied to tumours which are attached by a stalk to the surface from which they spring. The term refers only to the shape of the growth and has nothing to do with its structure or nature. Most polypi are of a simple nature, although malignant polypi are also found. The usual structure of a polypus is that of a fine fibrous core covered with epithelium resembling that of the surrounding surface. The sites in which polypi are most usually found are the interior of the nose, the outer meatus of the ear, and the interior of the womb, bladder, or bowels (see POLYPOSIS). Their removal is generally easy, as they are simply twisted off, or cut off, by some form of snare or ligature. (The tissue removed should be checked for malignant cells.) Those which are situated in the interior of the bladder or bowels, and whose presence is usually recognised because blood appears in the urine or stools, require a more serious operation usually an endoscopic examination (see ENDOSCOPE).

Polypus

Proliferation of epidermis or epithelium (see SKIN) to form a tumour. Benign papillomas are common in the skin and are sometimes viral in origin. Papilloma of the urinary bladder may cause HAEMATURIA.

Papilloma

Lymphoma

A malignant tumour of the LYMPH NODES divided histologically and clinically into two types: Hodgkins disease, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Hodgkins disease or lymphadenoma was named after Thomas Hodgkin (1798 1866), a Guys Hospital pathologist, who first described the condition.