Blastic tumors

New growth, used to denote uncontrolled growth of cells whose porliferation cannot be adequately controlled by normal regulatory mechanisms operating in normal tissue

The proliferation of neoplastic cells leads to the formation of masses (TUMORS)

clinically- presentation of the pt, and the outcome of the disease

histologically- gives the morphologic makeup of the neoplasm

a combination of the criteria lead to diagnosing tumors as benign or malignant

• sharply demarcated from normal tissue
• encapsulated with connective tissue (fibrous tissue)
• expansile growth and usually compress the normal, surrounding tissue

• lack a capsule and are not sharply demarcated from normal tissue
• due to infiltrative growth and lack of sharp borders they cannot be removed as easily

• composed of cells that resemble the tissue from which they have arisen
• cells are composed of a uniform pupulation in which all the cells have the same features, with regularly shaped round or oval nuclei, but all the same size with normal nucleoli and well developed cytoplam.
• everything looks the same as a normal cell except for the encapsulation and blue nuclei

• cells show prominent Anaplasia in that they exhibit new features no inherent to the tissues of thier origins
• undifferentiated, embryonic or anaplastic--very immature
• consists of a heterogeneous population of cells that often show marked pleomorphism (variability)
• uneven hyperchromatic nuclei that vary in shape and size, usually larger than normal and have prominent nuclei
• due to rapidly proliferation they have no specialized cytoplasmic fxn and therefore exhibit very little cytoplasm
• N/C ratio is 1:1
• contain more cells that are undergoing abnormal mitosis, reflecting their rapid growth and replication, with prominent nucleoli

a process by which cells moves from one site to another in the body. It involves a spread of malignant tumor cells from a primary location to some other site in the body

*only malignant cells have this capacity but not all malignant cells are capable (brain tumors)

3 main pathways malignant cells may spread (metastasize) in the body

1. lymphatics (breast CA)

2. bloodstream (many CA)

3. direct extension of the primary tumor, usually by seding of the surface of body cavities (renal cell carcinoma seeding to the adrenal gland)

cells of these tumors usually retain the microscopic features of their tissue of origin. The tumors are thus named according to the cell type which they resemble the most, with the addition of the suffix "-oma"

if epithelial and of glandular origin, the tumor is an Adenoma, if squamous, the tumor is a Papilloma

cartilage tissue = chondroma

osseous tissue = osteoma

smooth muscle = leiomyoma

fat tissue = lipoma

blood vessel = angioma

fibrous tissue = fibroma

CARCINOMAS

(squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma)

Tumors composed of unique cell types are named accordingly:

Renal cell carcinoma

adrenocortical carcinomas

hepatocellular carcinomas

all adenocarinomas

suffix Sarcoma

Fibrous tissue = fibrosarcoma

fat tissue = liposarcoma

bone tissue = osteosarcoma

skeletal muscle = rhabdomyosarcoma

exceptions to naming rules

these are all malignant

Lymphomas

Melanomas

Astrocytomas

Seminomas

Blastomas (retinolastomas, neuroblastomas and medulloblastomas)

Hodgkin's lymphoma

Ewing's Sarcoma of Bone

Kaposi's Sarcoma

• based on the degree of anaplasia and on the number of proliferating cells
• anaplasia is determined by the shape and the irregularity of the cells, large numbers of atypical mitoses, nuclear pleomorphism and tumor giant cells

most grading schemes classify tumors into 3 grades of increasing degress of malignancy

Grade I- well differentiated

Grade II- moderately differentiated

Grade III- poorly or undifferentiated

cancer staging

TNM cancer staging system

T=tumor

N= lymph node status

M= metastasis