malignant

malignant /ma·lig·nant/ (-nant)

1. tending to become worse and end in death.

2. having the properties of anaplasia, invasiveness, and metastasis; said of tumors.

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ma·lig·nant (m-lgnnt)

adj.

1. Threatening to life, as a disease; virulent.

2. Tending to metastasize; cancerous. Used of a tumor.

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Malignant

The term literally means growing worse and resisting treatment. It is used as a synonym for cancerous and connotes a harmful condition that generally is life-threatening.

Mentioned in: Abdominal Ultrasound, Breast Cancer, Colon Cancer, Gallium Scan of the Body, Hairy Cell Leukemia, Laryngeal Cancer, Lymph Node Biopsy, Multiple Myeloma, Radical Neck Dissection, Rectal Cancer, Skin Biopsy, Wilms' Tumor

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malignant

[məlig′nənt]

Etymology: L, malignus, bad disposition

1 tending to become worse and to cause death. See also virulent.

2 (describing a cancer) anaplastic, invasive, and metastatic. malignancy, n.

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malignant (m·ligˑ·nnt),

adj type of cancerous growth with a tendency to metastasize and grow unchecked. See also metastasis.

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malignant (mlig´nnt),

adj 1. resistant to treatment.
2. able to metastasize and kill the host.
3. describing a cancer.

malignant hypertension,

n the most lethal form of high blood pressure. It is a fulminating condition, characterized by severely elevated blood pressure that commonly damages the intima of small vessels, the brain, retina, heart, and kidneys. It affects more persons with racial diversity and may be caused by a variety of factors such as stress, genetic predisposition, obesity, the use of tobacco, the use of oral contraceptives, high intake of sodium chloride, a sedentary lifestyle, and aging.

malignant hyperthermia,

n an autosomal dominant trait characterized by often fatal hyperthermia with rigidity of muscles occurring in affected people exposed to certain anesthetic agents, particularly halothane and succinylcholine.

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malignant

tending to become progressively worse and to result in death; having the properties of anaplasia, invasiveness and metastasis; said of tumors.

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malignant aphtha

see contagious ecthyma.

malignant carbuncle

a form of anthrax in humans.

malignant catarrhal fever (MCF)

an acute highly infectious, fatal herpesvirus disease of cattle, farmed deer and occasionally pigs characterized by an erosive stomatitis and gastroenteritis, erosions on the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract, keratoconjunctivitis, encephalitis, and lymphadenopathy. There are at least two viruses involved. A wildebeest-associated form of the disease is caused by alcephaline herpesvirus 1. It occurs in most African countries in cattle which co-mingle with clinically normal wildebeest and hartebeest. It is epizootic and seasonal. It can also occur in zoological gardens in other countries. Sheep-associated MCF is caused by a poorly characterized virus, presumably ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2). Cases mostly occur when cattle have had contact with lambing ewes and usually start 1-2 months later. Goats can also act as a source of OvHV-2 infection for cattle. Cases without apparent or recent exposure to sheep do occur but are uncommon. Called also bovine malignant catarrh.

malignant edema

an acute infection of wounds by Clostridium septicum, C. chauvoei, C. perfringens, C. sordellii or C. novyi. The inflammation causes severe swelling and discoloration of skin and exposed tissues. There may be local subcutaneous emphysema and a frothy exudate, depending on the identity of the invading organism. There is a high fever and a profound toxemia; death follows within a few hours if treatment is not provided. Special occurrences are when a large number of animals are affected at one time. These include involvement of the vulva in recently lambed ewes, of shearing or docking wounds, and of the umbilicus or eyes of recently born lambs.

malignant fibrous histiocytoma

a rare aggressive tumor of dogs and cats; composed of densely packed fibroblasts and histiocytes.

malignant head catarrh

see malignant catarrhal fever.

malignant histiocytosis

see malignant histiocytosis.

malignant hyperthermia

see malignant hyperthermia, porcine stress syndrome.

malignant lymphoma

see lymphosarcoma.

malignant pustule

see malignant carbuncle (above).

malignant theileriasis

theileriasis caused by Theileria hirci.

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malignant

adjective Medtalk Tending to harm, kill, maim, pernicious, life-threatening, resistant to treatment, severe–as in malignant HTN, threatening to life, virulent. Cf Benign Oncology Cancerous; a tendency to invade and destroy nearby tissue and spread to other regions; referring to a neoplasm that invades surrounding tissue, which generally is unencapsulated, grows by invasion, with vascular and lymphatic metastases. See Cancer, Carcinogens, Congenital malignancy, Multiple primary malignancy syndrome, Metastasis, Occult primary malignancy, Occupational malignancy, Oncogenes, Post-trauma malignancy, Premalignancy, Secondary malignancy.

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Patient discussion about malignant.

Q. Is it a breast cancer? My cousin, 30/female. She says that while she do some heavy work her right side breast is paining heavily. I am scared, whether is it a symptom of a breast cancer or something else. I like to help & comfort her?

A. Wow! quite a hot discussion in here..

I will say, what lixurion shared to us here is probably something new for all of us, and we need to consider it as additional knowledge,
BUT I will also encourage darwin to help his cousin to check her right breast to a doctor (maybe even an oncologist). If you agree with lixurion, then your oncologist should be able to detect the lump, and if it is needed, the doctor will do Fine Needle Aspiration to check it. Or if the effect of mammography is that bad, your doctor still can use ultrasound to check the inner tissue of her right breast.

The earlier a breast cancer is detected, the better the outcome result will be..

Q. which is the most fatal cancer type?

A. pancreatic cancer is more fatal than the lung cancer, but the former is much rarer than the letter. This makes the lung cancer the number one cancer responsible for fatalities in the US.

Q. How do doctors find out if a tumor is malignant? What procedure is done to see if a tumor is malignant? Is a simple MRI enough to make that conclusion?

A. It depends on what type of tumor- what organ is involved and how big is it. Sometimes a simple blood test can show high levels of tumor markers and sometimes just the shape and size of it on CT or MRI can hint that it is a malignant tumor. However, the final answer can only be by biopsy or removal of the tumor and microscopic tests (that's the pathology work-up the doctors send).