Common types of arm tumors

If a tumor appears on the arm, you should pay attention to it. There are many reasons for arm tumors. In most cases, they are benign tumors. The most common one is lipoma. In addition, hemangioma and lymphangioma are also relatively common. These are all benign tumors. Of course, you should also be alert to some malignant tumors. If the growth is obvious, you must go to the hospital for examination in time and receive regular treatment.

1. Classification of benign tumors

(1) Epithelial tissue tumors: Epithelial tissue includes covering epithelium and glandular epithelium. Epithelial tissue tumors are common, and most of the malignant tumors in the human body are epithelial tissue malignant tumors (cancers), which are very harmful to humans.

① Papilloma: It is found in areas covered by squamous epithelium, urothelium, etc., and is called squamous cell papilloma, urothelioma, etc.

② Adenoma: It is a benign tumor of glandular epithelium, such as adenoma occurring in organs such as intestine, breast, and thyroid.

(2) Mesenchymal tumors

① Lipoma: It mainly occurs in adults and is the most common benign soft tissue tumor. The appearance is often lobed, with a capsule, soft texture, and a yellow cross-section that resembles adipose tissue.

②Hemangioma: common and can occur in many parts of the body, such as skin, muscles, internal organs, etc.

③Lymphangioma: It is composed of proliferating lymphatic vessels and contains lymph fluid. The lymphatic vessels may become cystically dilated and fused with each other, containing large amounts of lymph fluid, which is called cystic hygroma and is more common in children.

④ Chondroma: Those that occur from the periosteum are called periosteal chondromas. Those that occur in the medullary cavity of the short bones of the hands and feet and the long bones of the limbs are called endochondromas, which cause the bones to swell and have a thin bone shell on the outside. The cut surface is light blue or silvery white, translucent, and may show calcification or cystic changes.

Classification of malignant tumors

(1) Epithelial tissue tumors: Cancer is the most common malignant tumor. The incidence of cancer increases significantly in people over 40 years old.

① Squamous cell carcinoma: abbreviated as SCC. Under the microscope, layered keratin may appear in the center of the well-differentiated SCC nests, called keratinized pearls or cancer pearls; intercellular bridges can be seen between cells. Poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma may have no keratinized pearls and few or no intercellular bridges.

② Adenocarcinoma: It is a malignant tumor of glandular epithelium. Cancer cells form glands or glandular-like structures of varying sizes, shapes, and irregular arrangements. The cells are often irregularly arranged into multiple layers, with nuclei of varying sizes and frequent nuclear division.

③Basal cell carcinoma: more common in the head and face of the elderly. It grows slowly, often forms ulcers on the surface, and infiltrates and destroys deep tissues, but rarely metastasizes. It is sensitive to radiotherapy and clinically presents with low malignancy.

④ Urothelial carcinoma: also known as transitional cell carcinoma, it is divided into low-grade and high-grade urothelial carcinoma, or transitional cell carcinoma grade I, grade II, and grade III. The higher the grade, the more likely it is to recur and infiltrate deeper. Those with lower grades also tend to relapse. In some cases, the grade increases after relapse.

(2) Mesenchymal tissue tumors: collectively known as sarcomas, which are less common than cancer. Microscopically, most sarcoma cells do not form nests but grow diffusely with unclear boundaries with the stroma. The interstitial connective tissue is generally less, but the blood vessels are often rich, so sarcomas often metastasize through the blood vessels first.

① Liposarcoma: It is one of the most common sarcomas in adults. It often occurs in the deep soft tissues, retroperitoneum and other parts, and rarely occurs in the subcutaneous fat layer, which is opposite to the distribution of lipoma.

② Rhabdomyosarcoma: It is more common in children, mainly occurring in children under 10 years old and infants, and rarely in adults. It is highly malignant, grows rapidly, is prone to early hematogenous metastasis, and has a poor prognosis.

③ Leiomyosarcoma: The coagulative necrosis of tumor cells and the number of nuclear divisions are very important for the diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma and the assessment of its malignancy.

④ Fibrosarcoma: It often occurs in the subcutaneous tissue of the limbs, grows invasively, and has a grayish white, fish-like cross-section, often accompanied by bleeding and necrosis; the typical microscopic morphology is atypical spindle cells arranged in a "herring bone" pattern.