Benign and malignant tumors: How do they differ?

(Elaine K. Luo/ Healthline) –– When you hear the word tumor, you likely think of cancer. But, in fact, many tumors aren’t cancerous.

A tumor is a cluster of abnormal cells. Depending on the types of cells in a tumor, it can be:

• Benign. The tumor doesn’t contain cancerous cells.
• Premalignant or precancerous. It contains abnormal cells that have the potential to become cancerous.
• Malignant. The tumor contains cancerous cells.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the key differences between benign and malignant tumors and how they’re diagnosed and treated. (…)