RT Book, Section A1 Kaiser, Andreas M. A1 Etzioni, David A1 Beart, Robert W. A2 Zinner, Michael J. A2 Ashley, Stanley W. SR Print(0) ID 57014817 T1 Chapter 36. Tumors of the Colon T2 Maingot's Abdominal Operations, 12e YR 2013 FD 2013 PB The McGraw-Hill Companies PP New York, NY SN 978-0-07-163388-8 LK accesssurgery.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=57014817 RD 2024/10/03 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 two characteristic biological 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.