RT Book, Section A1 Yeung, Trevor M. A1 Mortensen, Neil J. A2 Zinner, Michael J. A2 Ashley, Stanley W. A2 Hines, O. Joe SR Print(0) ID 1160042887 T1 Tumors of the Colon T2 Maingot's Abdominal Operations, 13e YR 2019 FD 2019 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9780071843072 LK accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1160042887 RD 2024/10/04 AB Tumor is a descriptive term for a growth or mass of cells that are independent of the physiologic function or demand of their surrounding structures. The 2 characteristic biologic growth patterns of tumors include the ability to (1) disrespect tissue boundaries and invade other structures (invasiveness) and (2) gain access to blood and lymph vessels or other structures to spread tumor cells to distant locations and allow these specially equipped cells to survive and grow new remote tumors (metastases). If a tumor does not have either property, it is benign; if a tumor can invade locally but even at a large size does not have a tendency to metastasize, it is called semimalignant; and if a tumor has the ability to metastasize once a sufficient size is reached, it is a malignant tumor.