Research

Information about skin cancer and analysis patterns.

BENIGN AND MALIGNANT TUMORS
MORPHOLOGY PATTERNS
COLOR PATTERNS

BENIGN AND MALIGNANT TUMORS

A tumor is an abnormal lump or growth of cells. When the cells in the tumor are normal, it is benign. Something just went wrong, and they overgrew and produced a lump. When the cells are abnormal and can grow uncontrollably, they are cancerous cells, and the tumor is malignant. 1,2,3

If you have been diagnosed with a malignant tumor, your doctor will create a treatment plan with you based on the stage of cancer. Early-stage cancers haven't spread much, if at all, whereas later-stage cancers have spread to more areas of the body. Determining the stage of cancer may require biopsies, surgery, and/or imaging tests. Once the cancer stage is determined, you can proceed with therapy. 2,4

If you have been diagnosed with a benign tumor, your doctor will provide reassurance that you do not have cancer. Depending on the type of benign tumor, your doctor may recommend observation or removal for cosmetic or health purposes (for instance, the tumor may be compromising an important organ in your body). 5

Characteristics of Benign Tumors


Characteristics of Malignant Tumors


MORPHOLOGY: BEST PATTERN FOR MODELLING

Articles describe benigns by a mobile mass smooth and round with a surrounding fibrous capsule, where cells multiply slowly and cannot lead to metastasis. According to pictures, this description fits very well in nearly all of the cases, except for some rare conditions of carcinomas. 4,5

On the other side, malignant tumors have got an irregular shape with no capsule due to the fact that cells are not forming a mass, they act as individuals and they spread and divide uncontrollably, leading to metastasis. 6 Its shape is not consistent, is usually dynamic, as it can variate depending on the cancer progress and has not a defined outline due to the mentioned characteristics (Figure 1). 3,6,9,10

SUMMARY: Benign tumors have got a regular shape with a surrounding fibrous capsule that defines the location of the tumor whereas malignant tumors do have an irregular shape with no defined outline.

Tumors

Figure 1. Shape difference between a malignant and a benign TUMOR. Left-photo: Malignant tumor, corresponding to a carcinoma. It’s observed an irregular shape with not a defined outline. Right-photo: Seborrhoeic Keratosis, a benign tumor with a regular shape that resembles a circle with a good defined outline.



COLOR: PLAYING AGAINST THE ODDS

Colour is not a determinant of benign or a malignant tumor as there are multiple factors that determine their color like the location, the access to blood vessels, disrupted genes, among others.

there are lots of factors to take into account and multiple variables that we cannot control. Human bias also contributes to decreasing the efficiency of looking at those patterns as it depends on the illumination of the picture, the resolution and the topology of the skin, which in fact will also affect proper classification (Figure 2)3,7,8

SUMMARY: It’s very difficult to make a recognition from color as there are multiple variables that we cannot control which affect the gradients and tonalities. Human bias also contributes to this low level efficiency.

Tumors

Figure 2. Colour difference between a benign and a malignant TUMOR. Left-photo: Malignant tumor, corresponding to a carcinoma. It’s described a rare gradient of COLOR, with darker zones and others which are more pale. There is not a pattern defined. Right-photo: Benign tumor, corresponding to a Seborrhoeic Keratosis with pale colors and a regular colour in all the tumor surface.


  1. National Cancer Institute Webpage. Annual report of Cancer Facts and Figures 2016
  2. National Cancer Institue
  3. Baba, A. I., & Câtoi, C. (2007). Comparative Oncology [Book]. The Publishing House of the Romanian Academy
  4. Archer MC. Tannock, Hill, editors. 1987. Chemical Carcinogenesis. The Basic of Oncology Pergamon Press; New York: 89–105.
  5. Bannasch, P. (1984). Sequential cellular changes during chemical carcinogenesis. Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, 108(1), 11–22.
  6. Raikhlin NT. Ultrastructural organ-specificity and polymorphism of the cancer cells. Neoplasma. 1973;20:567–578
  7. Salomon JC. Les métastases des cancers. La Recherche. 1982;129:52–60.
  8. Koyuncuer, A. (2014). Histopathological evaluation of non-melanoma skin cancer. World Journal of Surgical Oncology, 12, 159.
  9. Ferlicot, S., Vincent-Salomon, A., Médioni, J., Genin, P., Rosty, C., Sigal-Zafrani, B., … Gusterson, A. (2004). Wide metastatic spreading in infiltrating lobular carcinoma of the breast. European Journal of Cancer, 40(3), 336–341.