- 1. differentiation and anaplasia
- Differentiation=extent that tumor cells resemble normal cells (benign=close resemblance)
- Anaplasia=lack of differentiation
- -nuclear/cellular pleomorphism
- -hyperchromatic (dark staining) and larger nucleus
- -abundant and atypical mitosis*
- -loss of tissue architecture and function*
2. Rate of growth: benign is slower and malignant is faster, more agressive with abnormal mitotic figures
3. Local invasion: benign don't invade/infiltrate (they tend to form capsule) while malignant are invasive/infiltrate
4. Metastasis: all malignant tumors (except basal cell carcinoma n brain tumors-gliomas) have capacity to metastasize while benign do not spread