Do You Understand Your Body? What is the Difference Between Growths and Cancer ?

Where does growths come from ?

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GROWTHS AND CANCER IN THE FEMALE BODY

This page and it's associated pages provides basic information about the growths and cancer of the female organs. It only provides basic information and is not to used to for diagnostic or treatment purposes.

Growths are abnormal collections of tissue usually causing a swelling or a lump. Most growths are not cancer. Growths can occur anywhere in the female genital tract. They are discovered either by the patient or during a routine examination by a medical partitioner. If the person have regular routine examinations, it is more likely that it will be discovered during an examination and that the growth will still be small.

The terms benign and malignant are used to describe growths. Benign growths are slow growing and compress the surrounding tissue , never invading them. A malignant growth is fast growing and the it infiltrates ( growing into ) the surrounding tissue.

The usual treatment is surgical removal of the growth. The next drawing illustrates the basics of benign growths.

It is clear from the above drawing that complete surgical removal will be relatively easy. The basement membrane is also intact.

The following drawing illustrates the basics of malignant growths.
The destruction caused by the malignant cells is clear. The basement membrane is destroyed and the deeper tissues invaded. The tumor spreads much further than the surface lesion indicates. Complete surgical removal will be very difficult.
Also refer to The Abnormal Papsmear .

Growths are not the only cause of lumps. Blocked glands and abnormal fluid collections can also cause lump formation. This is an important cause of lumps in the female reproductive organs. The next drawings will explain how blocked glands cause lumps.

This drawing illustrates the basic structure of a gland. There is an indention from the surface epithelium into the deeper tissues. The indention forms a tube like structure that extends into the deeper tissues The cells in the deeper part of the indention change and become glandular cells. There are different kinds of glands. Sebaceous glands produce oily substances , mucus glands produce mucous ( flem), sweat glands produces sweet. In the intestinal tracts there are glans that produces different kinds of digestive juices .

This drawing illustrates a blockage in the tube that transports the glandular secretion to the surface.

This drawing illustrates the effects of the blockage. The glandular tissue continues to secrete but because the blockage the secretions can't escape to the surface and cause swelling.

This drawing illustrates how the blocked gland becomes a lump.

We will now discuss growths as they effect the different parts of the female genital tract.

VULVA

VAGINA

CERVIX

UTERUS

TUBES

OVARIES