Lung Tumor Types

Benign and Malignant Lung Tumors

When most people hear the words "lung tumors" they immediately think of lung cancer, but such isn't the case. Lung tumors may either be malignant (cancerous) or benign (non cancerous).

Malignant lung tumors get the most attention, of course, because they can be terminal. So we'll start our discussion with those.

Malignant lung tumors You probably have a basic understanding of how a cancer tumor grows. Cells begin to divide and grow abnormally. The invade the space occupied by nearby tissues and may spread to nearby organs or even distant parts of the body. They rob normal tissue of oxygen, nutrients, and space.

Cancer occurs when normal cells undergo a transformation that causes them to grow and multiply without the normal controls. More new cells form than the body needs. The extra cells can turn into a mass of tissue. This mass of tissue becomes a malignant tumor. Most lung tumors are malignant.

When a tumor resides in an organ where the cancer began, it is called a primary tumor. A primary tumor in the lungs is called lung cancer. A primary tumor in the liver would be called liver cancer, in the colon it would be colon cancer, etc.

If cancer from the primary tumor spreads to other organs, the new tumor is called a secondary tumor.

95 percent of lung cancers come from two main groups based on the size of the cancer cells: small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is more common. It is further broken down into more sub-groups.

Adenocarcinoma starts in the outer parts of the lung. This type of lung tumoroften progresses for a long time before symptoms appear and a diagnosis is made. Adenocarcinoma accounts for about one-third of all lung tumors, and is found more often among women and non-smokers.

Squamous cell carcinoma makes up almost one third of lung cancers. It is the second most common type. Squamous cell lung cancer usually grows quickly and also metastasizes quickly to lymph nodes located within the lung, It may also spread via the bloodstream, ultimately affecting the other lung, bones, and even the brain.

Large cell cancer is a type of non-small cell lung cancer that accounts for approximately 1 case in 10.

Small cell lung cancer happens less often than NSCLC, accounting for about 1 case in 5. However, the SCLC type grows faster and is more likely to metastasize. It's quite common for small cell lung cancer to have already spread to other parts of the body by the time it's diagnosed.

There are a number of rare types of lung cancer that occur once in every 20 cases. Lymphoma is in this group.

Benign lung tumors Benign lung tumors are not life-threatening like malignant ones, but they can be troublesome. A benign lung tumor may cause complications that make pneumonia and other lung problems more likely.

Once again, benign lung tumors occur much less often than the malignant type. It's estimated that only 2-5 percent of all lung tumors are benign.

Men are more prone to benign lung tumors than women. The cause of benign lung tumors is not known.

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