Anti-Cancer Drugs Are Ineffective Against Benign Tumors (or Nodules)
Patients often seek my help after a benign tumor or benign nodule is found in their body, hoping I will use anti-malignant-tumor drugs to treat the benign tumor or nodule. Except for some patients whose tumor or nodule is very difficult to distinguish as benign or malignant, I have refused all those whose nodules can easily be identified as benign. In most cases, a benign tumor or nodule only requires periodic re-examination and observation, without any medical intervention. Moreover, anti-malignant-tumor drugs are indeed ineffective against benign tumors or nodules. Not only that, but anti-cancer drugs are mostly toxic; ordinary people have no need to risk poisoning by trying to treat a benign tumor with anti-cancer drugs.Similarly, many people have believed the claim that "there are cancer cells even in a normal person’s body" and take some anti-cancer drugs to prevent cancer; this practice is also absurd and dangerous. Perhaps most people would find such behavior inconceivable, but in practice I have seen several cases of people who, believing such talk, took anti-cancer drugs prophylactically and were poisoned. Some of those who did so even had some medical background, which is truly baffling. The reason, after all, is that everyone has a certain degree of "cancer phobia": they turn pale at the mention of cancer, and live in fear that they might have been misdiagnosed or missed, and that by the time it develops into advanced tumor it will be too late. In reality, as long as one has regular check-ups to observe changes in the nodule, such a situation is very unlikely.Benign and malignant tumors (or nodules) are essentially different. Benign tumors (or nodules) grow slowly, do not adhere to the skin or surrounding tissues, have a smooth surface, clear borders, good mobility, mostly soft texture and no symptoms; only a few larger ones may cause compression symptoms. Malignant tumors generally grow rapidly, adhere to the surrounding skin and tissues, have irregular shapes—some raised, some depressed, some ulcerated—with a rough surface, no capsule, poor mobility, immobility on pressure, hard texture and lack of elasticity. They are asymptomatic in the early stage, or may show progressive emaciation, anemia, bleeding, fever and fatigue; in the late stage various more serious complications often appear. Benign tumors (or nodules) are not life-threatening, while malignant tumors (or nodules) are.Although biopsy is the gold standard for confirming cancer, given the clear distinction between benign and malignant tumors, an experienced doctor can already determine by imaging whether a tumor or nodule is benign and will not send the patient for further biopsy; after all, biopsy is an invasive examination. In practice, the number of benign tumors or nodules far exceeds that of malignant ones, and biopsying every one would be a huge waste of medical resources and would also impose a heavy financial burden on patients. So patients or their families need not worry unduly about a benign nodule or mass in their body, still less take medicine to prevent malignant transformation. If a certain benign tumor or nodule has the potential to become malignant, the doctor will tell the patient.Most benign tumors or nodules are not precancerous lesions, and their harm is even far less than that of diseases already established as precancerous, such as atrophic gastritis, Helicobacter pylori positivity, active hepatitis B, reflux esophagitis, solitary gallbladder polyps, and gallstones. It is these precancerous lesions that deserve attention. Patients with precancerous lesions should be actively treated and re-examined regularly even if no detectable tumor, ulcer or nodule is present, in order to prevent the occurrence and development of cancer.The reason many people have annual physical exams yet are found to have cancer only at an advanced stage is precisely that they do not take precancerous lesions seriously. A routine physical exam differs from cancer screening; it does not include comprehensive cancer-screening items, so a missed diagnosis is hardly surprising. In the examination reports of one gallbladder cancer patient several years before diagnosis, I saw that the patient had already been found to have a solitary gallbladder polyp, and a fairly large one, but the patient herself knew nothing of this hidden danger; years later it developed into advanced gallbladder cancer. This is because most laypeople lack knowledge of precancerous lesions and medical popularization is not yet adequate.The most essential difference between benign and malignant tumors is whether the proliferating tissue is composed of cells that have already undergone gene mutation. There are very many causes of benign tumors or nodules; a calcification from an old lesion, or a single trauma, may form a benign nodule or mass somewhere in the body. Such nodules or masses are essentially a different matter from cancer. The reason most anti-cancer drugs work is that they induce apoptosis of cancer cells or inhibit their division; these drugs cannot possibly have a therapeutic effect on benign nodules and masses.Moreover, up to now the vast majority of anti-cancer drugs have toxic side effects; most are cytotoxic and have other side effects, and claims of "non-toxic anti-cancer" are basically deceptive. So I often regretfully see some patients with benign nodules or tumors, through excessive attention to their nodule or tumor, mistakenly use anti-cancer drugs and develop all kinds of toxic side effects: in mild cases the stomach and intestines are damaged; in slightly more serious cases liver and kidney function become abnormal; in the most serious cases, life-threatening side effects such as liver or kidney failure may occur.Some doctors who lack understanding of tumor diseases sometimes also give such drugs to patients to treat benign hyperplastic tissue; this is a dangerous thing for both the patient and the doctor. Once a medical accident occurs, both doctor and patient lose out. So everyone should act cautiously on this issue.