What is a tumor in the abdominal cavity?
A tumor in general is initially understood to be merely a swelling or a mass that is independent of its origin. This includes not only tumors, but also cysts, inflammatory swellings or edemas, i.e. water retention. In addition, a tumor can be both benign and malignant in nature; a general statement on this cannot be made at first by using the term “tumor” alone. A tumor in the abdominal cavity can therefore also be of a more numerous and varied nature and in principle originate from any organ in the abdominal cavity.
What tumors are there in the abdominal cavity?
Tumors in the abdominal cavity can have different origins, and any organ located in the abdominal cavity can in principle produce a tumor – both benign and malignant. Organs located in the abdominal cavity include the stomach, the small and large intestine, the liver, the gallbladder, the pancreas, the kidneys and adrenal glands, the two ureters and the spleen. Each organ mentioned here can produce different and also several types of tumors, depending on the respective tissue composition. Possible benign tumors include papillomas and adenomas (from surface cells = epithelium), fibromas (from connective tissue cells), lipomas (from fat cells), leiomyomas (from smooth muscle cells) or rhabdomyomas (from striated skeletal muscle cells). Malignant tumors, on the other hand, are adenocarcinomas, squamous cell carcinomas, carcinoids (as an example of neuroendocrine tumors), fibrosarcoma, liposarcoma, leiomyosarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma.
These symptoms may indicate a tumor in the abdomen
Depending on which organ is affected by the tumor or which organ produces the tumor, the symptoms can also be different. Benign tumors usually do not grow aggressively, but slowly and do not destroy the original organ, so that they often only become noticeable after a longer period of time, when they press on other organs due to their increase in size or even become visible from the outside through bulges in the abdominal area. This often leads to complaints such as pain, feeling of pressure in the abdomen, stool changes such as constipation and urinary retention.
Malignant tumors, on the other hand, grow faster and more aggressively, so that they often lead to changes and destruction of the original tissue, until they eventually even break into the vascular or lymphatic system and form metastases. They then usually become conspicuous by a loss of the actual function of the affected organ, conspicuous organ-specific blood values (e.g. liver values, kidney values, etc.) or by metastasis-related symptoms.
These include bone pain, neurological abnormalities and deterioration of liver or lung function. Water in the abdomen, also called ascites, is a pathological accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity, although this can have various causes. A distinction is made between non-inflammatory water (transudate) in the context of protein deficiency or increased pressure in the venous abdominal vessels (e.g. in liver cirrhosis or heart failure) and inflammatory water (exudate), for example in the case of tumors or inflammation of structures in the abdominal cavity.
In the case of the latter, the tumorous or inflammatory process causes a leak in the vessel walls so that fluid can pass from the blood into the abdominal cavity. In certain diseases, bloody (hemorrhagic ascites), lymphatic (chylous ascites) or biliary (biliary ascites) abdominal fluid can also occur. Peritoneal metastasis, also known as peritoneal carcinomatosis, refers to the infestation of the peritoneum with malignant tumor cells, usually originating from a malignant tumor in the abdomen.
In most cases, these are advanced tumors of the gastrointestinal tract, the pancreas or even the ovaries. In rare cases, however, peritoneal cancer may also occur, which is not a manifestation of metastases from a tumor in the peritoneal cavity, but primarily originates from the peritoneum itself (e.g. mesothelioma of the peritoneum). Peritoneal metastases are usually noticeable by the fact that they lead to abdominal pain and stool changes (usually constipation), even if they occur relatively late.With increasing tumor mass, peritoneal carcinomatosis can lead to functional limitations of various organs that are surrounded by the peritoneum in the abdominal cavity. These can include urinary retention, intestinal obstruction, liver dysfunction, but also the formation of abdominal fluid.
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