The nursing instructor explains the difference between normal cells and benign tumor cells. What information does the instructor provide about these cells?
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Benign tumors are fundamentally different from malignant tumors in their behavior and characteristics. Unlike malignant tumors, which invade surrounding tissues, benign tumors do not grow through invasion but rather through hyperplasia, a controlled increase in cell number. They retain contact inhibition, a regulatory mechanism where normal cells stop dividing when they touch each other, preventing uncontrolled growth. The defining feature of benign tumors is that they consist of cells that are essentially normal but are growing in an inappropriate location or at an incorrect time, such as a lipoma in fatty tissue. Anaplasia, on the other hand, refers to the loss of differentiation and is a hallmark of malignant cancer cells, not benign ones. Thus, the instructor would emphasize that benign tumors are misplaced normal cells, making this the accurate statement. This distinction is critical for nursing students to understand, as it impacts diagnosis, treatment decisions, and patient education regarding the non-threatening nature of benign tumors compared to cancerous growths.