the word tumor It generally arouses fear in those who listen to it, but this is not always synonymous with cancer. It simply expresses an abnormal mass of cells in the body, which may have arisen because they reproduce more than normal or because they do not die when it is their turn. Some of these tumors are benign, They stay in the area where they originated and do not spread to other organsthey generally grow slowly and have their well-defined limits.
Some of the best known are usually skin lipomas, uterine fibroids or intestinal polyps. However, although benign, some of these tumors Yes, they can be harmful and even cause death.. In fact, the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) recorded in its report Cancer figures in Spain 2024 up to 609 deaths in 2022 from benign tumors in our country. But why does this happen?
“Deaths due to benign tumors are exceptional and will be due to compression of a vital structure or complications during treatments due to proximity to one of them“, explains Isabel Echavarría, scientific secretary of SEOM and medical oncologist at the Gregorio Marañón University Hospital in Madrid. Of course, some benign tumors can progress into a malignant tumor, but the deaths they cause would not be taken into account in these statistics.
Rare
Yes, these cases are very strange, they only represent 0.53% of deaths due to tumors in Spain in 2022. “The majority of benign tumors do not cause problems, but there is a small percentage that can cause pain or complications. For example, a tumor that compresses the airways, nerves, bile ducts or even benign brain tumors “, sums up Echavarría. In reality, these tumors can appear anywhere in the body and the scientific literature has listed them several times.
In this article published in Respiratory Medicine Case Reports In 2021, the authors report a case that “looked like lung cancer, but it wasn’t.” Doctors found in a 79-year-old patient had a benign intrathoracic desmoid tumorbut it had grown rapidly and invaded the vital pathways. As the authors explain, due to the large size of the tumor and the patient’s condition, surgery could not be performed, but he was treated with radiotherapy.
“We rarely see benign tumors as oncologists,” says Echavarría. “In general, they are managed by other specialists, since It is very rare that they require treatment and exceptionally systemic treatment. Many benign tumors do not require treatment because they cause no symptoms. Only those who have symptoms, who are at risk of compressing these vital pathways, or those who are at significant risk of malignancy are treated. Likewise, only patients meeting these characteristics will be followed.
Heart and brain
Benign tumors are not always easy to detect and some, very rare, They could be the cause of sudden death of cardiovascular origin. In this article from PE Europe The authors studied how benign heart tumors, which are extremely rare, could be the cause of certain sudden deaths. According to the Spanish Heart Foundation (FEC), approximately 30,000 sudden deaths occur every year in our country and in the vast majority of cases they are due to ischemia or atherosclerosis.
Of the 164 heart tumors studied by researchers between 1994 and 2012, only 11 of them were associated with sudden death, but the vast majority were cases of young patients. Although the authors admit that these cases are extraordinary, they point out that they may be overlooking some. Indeed, these tumors are generally detected at autopsy. and they are generally not taken into account as a cause of mortality, according to the study authors. Additionally, many elderly patients do not undergo autopsies when they die suddenly.
Because deaths from benign tumors are very rare and in most cases unproblematic, there is little research on the subject. A few years ago, the case of a 24-year-old woman died of a benign tumor in the United Kingdom It became very media-driven. As shown The mirrorA woman named Stephanie Dickson went to the doctor up to 14 times for head and neck pain and dizziness for nine months. Every time he went to the doctor, he was diagnosed with a stress migraine.
Desmoid tumors
He died suddenly one night at his home and during an autopsy a benign tumor was discovered in his brain which significantly increased the pressure in his skull. According to the British newspaper, experts who handled the case assured that Dickson would have had a 98% chance of surviving if she had been operated on even 24 hours before her death. Echavarría points out, however, that there is a type of benign tumors that are studied more frequently because they are “more likely to generate problems.”
These are desmoid tumors, which occur when connective tissue cells, fibroblasts, reproduce too much. “Connective tissue supports and connects bones, ligaments and muscles and helps hold organs in place. Desmoid tumors are also known as deep fibromatosis, aggressive fibromatosis, or desmoid-type fibromatosis,” the United States National Cancer Institute states on its website.
These tumors can appear anywhere in the body, but are most common in the abdomen, shoulders, arms, and thighs. However, these tumors are also very strange and are only diagnosed between two and four of them per million inhabitants worldwide per yearaccording to the American institute. Even if desmoid tumors do not metastasize, “their clinical course can be unpredictable,” explain the study authors. Respiratory medical case reports.
