Types of Cancer
The multidisciplinary teams at RWJBarnabas Health, in partnership with Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, provide the most advanced cancer treatment options.
Led by experts who are specialists in specific types of cancer, we provide access to clinical trials, immunotherapy, precision medicine, complex surgical procedures and advanced radiation therapy techniques.
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What Is Cancer?
The body is made up of various kinds of cells, which normally divide in an orderly way to produce more cells only when they are needed. Cancer is a group of diseases - more than 100 types - that occur when cells become abnormal and divide without control or order.
What Is a Tumor?
When cells divide when new cells are not needed, too much tissue is formed. This mass of extra tissue, called a tumor, can be benign or malignant.
Benign tumors:
- Are not cancer
- Can usually be removed
- Are rarely a threat to life
- Do not come back in most cases
- Do not spread to other parts of the body and the cells do not invade other tissues
Malignant tumors:
- Are cancer
- May be a threat to life
- Can invade and damage nearby tissues and organs
- Metastasize - cancer cells can break away from a malignant tumor and enter the bloodstream or lymphatic system to form secondary tumors in other parts of the body
