Antioxidants and Cancer -

Degree Of Malignancy

Cancers vary enormously in the speed with which they spread locally and, consequently, in the readiness with which they form new colonies elsewhere. This tendency is called 'malignancy' and malignancy may be low or high. A tumor of low malignancy may take man y months or even years to cause trouble and may not spread distantly for a very long time, if ever.

Unfortunately, tumors of high malignancy will sometimes have spread widely before the victim has any idea that anything is wrong. Skilled pathologists can usually tell, by examining a thin slice of cancer tissue under a microscope, whether it is of high or low malignancy. In tumors of low malignancy, the cells quite closely resemble that parent tissue and form themselves into aggregates which are not greatly different in structure from the normal tissue from which they arise. Very malignant cells, on the other hand, are 'primitive', simple cells with little or no capacity to form recognizable tissues.