How do benign tumors affect the body?

Depending on where the tumor is, surrounding cells will typically be locally suffocated.

Generally speaking, a tumor is a collection of cells that have lost the ability to properly control their division and are instead just randomly and aggressively dividing without regard for neighboring cells.

In most normal cells, the need for more cells of the same type drives division, and when that goal is met, the process of "contact inhibition" and "cellular aging" kicks in.

1. Contact inhibition: This is the instantaneous halting of cell division upon contact with other cells. It keeps cells from "suffocating" other cells by growing over them and from outgrowing their assigned tissue structure.

2. The fixed rate of cell division known as "cellular aging" is a feature of almost all cells; it is programmed to divide continuously until a predetermined number of divisions are reached, at which point the cell will cease to divide.

Tumors and cancer cells typically lack these two defenses, which leads to their unchecked growth and eventual harm to surrounding tissue(s).

The process by which cancerous tumors enter the bloodstream and release a small number of cells that then travel to another organ where they begin to grow again is known as "metastasis" and is the primary cause of cancer deaths.

The location of a benign tumor determines its severity; a benign tumor on the skin of your forearm is as harmless as a mole on your skin, but a benign tumor in the brain can be fatal. Benign tumors are not able to enter the bloodstream, so they simply overgrow where they are.

Sources and additional reading: Cellular Aging, Contact Inhibition, Benign Tumors, Malignant Tumors, Metastasis

Benign tumors are generally non-cancerous and do not invade nearby tissues, but they can cause issues by pressing on surrounding structures, leading to symptoms depending on their location.