Cancers tend to feel much harder than benign cysts and fibroadenomas. Both benign and malignant masses can be rounded and mobile. Only when cancers are quite advanced are they fixed to skin or the underlying chest wall, and not moveable.
While tumors are fairly stationary, cysts often move and change form when you touch them.
Cancerous lumps are usually hard, painless and immovable. Cysts or fatty lumps etc are usually slightly softer to touch and can move around. This has come from experience - I found a rubbery, painless moveable lump in my neck which was not cancer.
Do breast cancer lumps move? Most lumps will be movable within the breast tissue on examination, but breast lumps typically do not “move” around the breast. However, sometimes a breast lump will be fixed, or stuck, to the chest wall.
Bumps that are cancerous are typically large, hard, painless to the touch and appear spontaneously. The mass will grow in size steadily over the weeks and months. Cancerous lumps that can be felt from the outside of your body can appear in the breast, testicle, or neck, but also in the arms and legs.
A tumor may feel more like a rock than a grape. A cancerous lump is usually hard, not soft or squishy.
They can feel firm or soft. Benign masses are more likely to be painful to the touch, such as with an abscess. Benign tumors also tend to grow more slowly, and many are smaller than 5 cm (2 inches) at their longest point. Sarcomas (cancerous growths) more often are painless.
If lump swelling persists beyond two weeks, talking to a medical professional is likely advised, says Harold Burstein, MD, PhD, a physician in the Breast Oncology program at Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center.
Scientists have found that for most breast and bowel cancers, the tumours begin to grow around ten years before they're detected. And for prostate cancer, tumours can be many decades old. “They've estimated that one tumour was 40 years old. Sometimes the growth can be really slow,” says Graham.
With most breast cancers, each division takes one to two months, so by the time you can feel a cancerous lump, the cancer has been in your body for two to five years.
You may be able to see a growth. Certain things about the image might even suggest that it's likely to be cancerous. But there are many benign (noncancerous) tumors that look very much like cancerous growths. That's why, if your doctor suspects cancer from imaging, they will almost always follow up with a biopsy.
Cyst – a fluid-filled lump under the surface of the skin that moves when you touch it.
The best test to determine whether a cyst or tumor is benign or malignant is a biopsy. This procedure involves removing a sample of the affected tissue — or, in some cases, the entire suspicious area — and studying it under a microscope.
Both benign and malignant masses can be rounded and mobile. Only when cancers are quite advanced are they fixed to skin or the underlying chest wall, and not moveable.
Benign tumors are not usually problematic. However, they can become large and compress structures nearby, causing pain or other medical complications.
Urgent referral for suspected cancer
An urgent referral can be worrying. But remember that more than 9 in every 10 people (more than 90%) referred this way will not have a diagnosis of cancer. In England, an urgent referral means that you should see a specialist within 2 weeks.
An infection or abscess is perhaps the most common cause behind a mass that is mistaken for a tumor. In addition, cysts may arise from inflamed joints or tendons as a result of injury or degeneration. Inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, can also result in soft tissue masses.
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If you experience any of the following, make an appointment pronto: A hard, immovable lump that isn't tender. Any bump in the breast or genital area that persists longer than a few weeks. A growth that seems to be enlarging rapidly.
Lumps that are benign (not cancer) may be tender and feel smooth and mobile. A cancerous lump is more likely to feel hard, but some non-cancerous lumps can feel hard, too.