Benign or malignant?

How do you determine if a tumor is malignant or cancerous based on the terminology alone? In my med term. class the only question I missed on our last exam was about a sarcoma. The answer was, " a malignant tumor...."

you have to memorize the different cancers, and know which are benign vs. malignant. The latin suffix - oma only refers to "tumor", "growth" or "cancer" and does not tell you its characteristics, that comes from the prefix and there is not a specific prefix for malignant nor benign. Usually it only tells you the type of tissue or location.

Thank you all for the help... could have done without the rather rude comment about needing to study more. I do study, very much in fact, and know that malignant does not mean "cancer" it means "bad" which of course when used in reference to a tumor would mean it was cancerous. Report It

Well, you have to know whether the terminology refers to a class of tumor which is benign or malignant. All sarcoma's are by definitition malignant and therefore cancerous. Malignant in that context always means cancerous. Hope that helps.

All Sarcoma cancer are malignant and required treatments like surgery, Chemotheraphy and radiation therapy. Since you are a med student I give below further details of sarcoma for your information.

A sarcoma is a cancer of the connective or supportive tissue (bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels) which means 'fleshy growth'. Bone tumors (osteosarcomas) are also called sarcomas, but are in a separate category because they have different clinical and microscopic characteristics and are treated differently. Osteogenic sarcoma or osteosarcoma is one of the most common childhood bone cancers. Soft tissue sarcomas are more common in adults than in children. In all, sarcomas constitute fewer than 1% of all cancers. Its treatment is made more difficult with the existence of more than 70 varieties. Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is the most common form of sarcoma, with approximately 3000-3500 cases per year in the United States.

Private funding Organizations such as the 'Sarcoma Foundation of America' are working to fund research towards a cure for sarcoma, while other patient-oriented organizations such as the Sarcoma Alliance are working to educate patients about the disease, and still others like the Rare Cancer Alliance are working to give patients online support.

Treatment for sarcoma involves surgery and radiation therapy, and chemotherapy in some people. For sarcomas that are recurrent, systemic chemotherapy is the most frequently utilized therapy. Sarcoma treatment is best directed by experts in this disease, found at major cancer centers in the United States. Any painless or painful growing mass on the body should be examined by a physician and a determination made of whether further treatment is necessary.

you need to study some more , cuz first off malignant means cancer and only a doc can determine that through tests