Tumors can be benign or malignant.

Benign Tumors

• Benign tumors are normal cells that divide and grow too much but do not interfere with the function of normal cells around them.
• They do not have the ability to move from where they originated.
• They are not cancerous and usually do not become cancerous, no matter how large they grow.
• Benign tumors frequently stop growing once they reach a certain size and do not invade other tissues.
• When benign tumors are removed, they usually do not grow back (recur) and do not spread to distant parts of the body (metastasize).

Malignant Tumors

• Malignant tumors are overgrowths of abnormal cells (cancer) that divide without control and order.
• They do not stop growing, even when they come into contact with nearby cells.
• As malignant tumors grow, they squeeze surrounding healthy tissue and prevent their normal function.
• They also release certain signals that cause the creation of new blood vessels to feed the tumor.