A cancer diagnosis is nearly always made by an expert looking at cell or tissue samples under a microscope. In some cases, lab tests of the cells' proteins, DNA, and RNA can help tell doctors if cancer is present. These tests may also help in choosing the best treatment options. Tests of cells and tissues can find many other kinds of diseases, too. For example, if doctors are not sure a lump is cancer, they may have the sample tested for cancer and for germs that have been linked to cancer (like HPV, human papilloma virus). The procedure that takes a sample for this testing is called a biopsy, and the tissue sample is called the biopsy specimen. The testing process is sometimes referred to as pathology.
Lumps that might be malignant (cancer) may be found by imaging (radiology) studies or felt as masses (lumps) during a physical exam, but they still must be sampled and looked at under a microscope to find out what they are. Not all lumps are malignant. In fact, most tumors are benign (not cancer). A malignant tumor is able to spread into nearby tissues and even to distant parts of the body. A benign tumor cannot do this.
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