Diagnosis and treatment of tumors required a thorough study of their morphology and histology. Oncologists studied the factors of transformation of normal cells into tumor cells, types and growth rate, degrees of cell differentiation. Based on this information, the volume of surgical treatment, prognosis and observation tactics are determined. And since cancer is being diagnosed more and more often, the patient must have an understanding of oncology. Therefore, such concepts as endophytic or exophytic growth, metastasis, relapse, and many others, he must know and understand the differences between them.
Typification of tumors by growth centers
Benign or malignant neoplasms are transformed normal cells of the body that have lost control of cell division. Their growth rate directly depends on the availability of nutrients and cannot be suppressed by tissue factors of the body. Thus, the primary center of the tumor is formed, which consists of cells that multiply rapidly and uncontrollably at a given time.
Depending on the number of such centers in the formed neoplasm, all tumors are divided into unicentric and multicentric. The former developed from one primary center, and the others from several. As a result, multicentric, having several sources for growth at once, develop and manifest faster, more difficult to treat.
Unicentric for a long time are not recognized symptomatically, but can give metastases early. As a result, even before the development of a large tumor with endophytic or exophytic growth, the neoplasm already has screenings in distant tissues, significantly complicating the treatment. This explains the difference in the growth rate of tumors and the main difficulties of diagnosis. The patient will not apply until he has symptoms, and therefore such an insidious course of the disease provides many difficulties in treatment.
Typing in the direction of growth
Endophytic and exophytic growths of the neoplasm are types of enlargement of the cell population, depending on its direction. That is, tumors are distinguished depending on whether they grow outside the organ or inside it. In the case of a parenchymal organ (liver or pancreas), a tumor with an endophytic type of growth spreads inward. Exophytic growth in parenchymal organs is the spread of a tumor from the surface (or its thickness) to the outside, after which the neoplasm becomes visible.
Hollow Tumor Growth
In the study of neoplasms of the hollow organs (intestines, stomach, bladder, uterus and others), similar patterns are traced. The endophytic type is the growth of a neoplasm into the wall of an organ. Exophytic growth in the hollow organs is the spread of the neoplasm from the surface of the internal epithelium (or middle layers of the organ wall) to the outside with the exit into the lumen of the cavity. Here, an exophytic tumor can be seen, while in the case of an endophytic tumor, there are either no signs of its presence, or the epithelium is only slightly deformed on the surface of the organ. This is one of the most obvious explanations why not all tumors are determined by endoscopic examinations.
Typing by Growth
For the purpose of prognosis and further study of neoplasms, it makes sense to classify tumors according to the nature of growth. In accordance with this sign, three types of increase in neoplasm in size are divided. The first is expansive growth: a tumor is formed in the form of a single solid node or a rounded formation, you can see a clear boundary between healthy tissue and tumor. It grows over the entire surface, pushing and squeezing the surrounding tissue, but not destroying them. Often with expansive growth, there is a clear connective tissue capsule.
The second, infiltrating type of growth is the pushing of a growing tumor between tissues, germination in the spaces between them. And if expansive growth is characteristic of a benign neoplasm, then infiltrative growth is characteristic of a malignant one. It is unfavorable in terms of prognosis, it is more difficult to diagnose and remove surgically. As a result of this, volumetric surgical operations are performed.
Upset growth (the third type) is the growth of a tumor from a primary source by layered oncotransformation of healthy cells. The neoplasm, as it were, turns the surrounding tissues into an oncological tumor in the place where it is in contact with healthy cells. This type of growth is most often characteristic of the initial stages of neoplasm development, has signs of exophytic and endophytic tumor growth.
Exophytic tumors
A huge number of epithelial tumors grow in the cavity of the organ or out. And if the cavity is large enough, like a stomach, then the symptoms will appear late. But when the neoplasm grows into a narrow duct and, when it reaches a small size, blocks it, characteristic symptoms begin to appear. It is even easier to notice the appearance of a tumor with exophytic outward growth. Then the localization becomes visible, which helps to recognize the presence of the disease at an early stage.
An exophytic form of tumor growth is characteristic of neoplasms of hollow organs and skin. They can be seen during endoscopic examinations, during a surgical operation, as well as during examination with an otorhinolaryngologist, therapist, gynecologist. This speeds up the diagnosis and treatment, allows you to achieve a better prognosis for the patient.
Endophytic tumors
A typical example of a tumor with endophytic growth is breast cancer. Often, the endophytic type of growth is combined with the infiltrative one, which ensures rapid metastasis and is often accompanied by relapses after surgical treatment. In this regard, exophytic and endophytic growth are seriously different.
Endophytic tumors later appear symptomatically, as they grow in the thickness of the parenchymal or in the wall of the hollow organ. In the case of breast cancer, an endophytic tumor appears much later than an exophytic one. Often this happens after metastasis, due to which a small neoplasm becomes dangerous in the outflow site - lungs, lymphatic system, bones.