Patients typically present with a non-productive cough and weight loss.

Medullary carcinoma may refer to one of several different tumors of epithelial origin. As the term "" is a generic anatomic descriptor for the mid-layer of various organ tissues, a medullary tumor usually arises from the "mid-layer tissues" of the relevant organ.

Medullary carcinoma most commonly refers to:

- Medullary thyroid cancer

- Medullary carcinoma of the breast

Medullary carcinoma may also refer to tumors of:

- Pancreas

- Ampulla of Vater

- Gallbladder

- Stomach

- Large intestine

- Kidney — Renal medullary carcinoma

Signet ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) is a rare form of highly malignant adenocarcinoma that produces mucin. It is an epithelial malignancy characterized by the histologic appearance of signet ring cells.

Primary SRCC tumors are most often found in the glandular cells of the stomach (SRCC originates in the stomach in 90 percent of patients), and less frequently in the breast, gallbladder, urinary bladder, and pancreas. SRCCs do not normally form in the lungs, though a few incidences have been reported.

Among colorectal cancers, the prevalence of SRCC is less than one percent. Though incidence and mortality of gastric cancer has declined in many countries over the past 50 years, there has been an increase in occurrences of gastric SRCC-type cancers.

SRCC tumors grow in characteristic sheets, which makes diagnosis using standard imaging techniques, like CT and PET scans, less effective.

Carcinoma is a type of cancer that develops from epithelial cells. Specifically, a carcinoma is a cancer that begins in a tissue that lines the inner or outer surfaces of the body, and that arises from cells originating in the endodermal, mesodermal and ectodermal germ layer during embryogenesis.

Carcinomas occur when the DNA of a cell is damaged or altered and the cell begins to grow uncontrollably and become malignant. It is from the Greek καρκίνωμα 'karkinoma' meaning sore, ulcer, or cancer, itself derived from "karkinos" 'crab'.

Signs and symptoms of pseudomyxoma peritonei may include abdominal or pelvic pain and/or bloating, distension, digestive disorders, weight changes, increased girth, and infertility.

Large-cell carcinoma (LCC) is a heterogeneous group of undifferentiated malignant neoplasms that lack the cytologic and architectural features of small cell carcinoma and glandular or squamous differentiation. LCC is categorized as a type of NSCLC (Non-Small Cell Carcinoma) which originates from epithelial cells of the lung.

Pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP) is a clinical condition caused by cancerous cells (mucinous adenocarcinoma) that produce abundant mucin or gelatinous ascites. The tumors cause fibrosis of tissues and impede digestion or organ function, and if left untreated, the tumors and mucin they produce will fill the abdominal cavity. This will result in compression of organs and will destroy the function of colon, small intestine, stomach, or other organs. Prognosis with treatment in many cases is optimistic, but the disease is lethal if untreated, with death by cachexia, bowel obstruction, or other types of complications.

This disease is most commonly caused by an appendiceal primary cancer (cancer of the appendix); mucinous tumors of the ovary have also been implicated, although in most cases ovarian involvement is favored to be a metastasis from an appendiceal or other gastrointestinal source. Disease is typically classified as low- or high-grade (with signet ring cells). When disease presents with low-grade histologic features the cancer rarely spreads through the lymphatic system or through the bloodstream.

Krukenberg tumors often come to the attention when they cause abdominal or pelvic pain, bloating, ascites, or pain during sexual intercourse. Krukenberg tumors can occasionally provoke a reaction of the ovarian stroma which leads to hormone production, that results in vaginal bleeding, a change in menstrual habits, or hirsutism, or occasionally virilization as a main symptom.

All these symptoms are non-specific and can also arise with a range of problems other than cancer, and a diagnosis can only be made following confirmatory investigations such as computed tomography (CT) scans, laparotomy and/or a biopsy of the ovary.

Many of the symptoms of NSCLC can be signs of other diseases, but having chronic or overlapping symptoms may be a signal of the presence of the disease. Some symptoms are indicators of less advanced cases while some may signal that the cancer has spread. Some of the symptoms of less advanced cancer include chronic cough, coughing up blood, chest pain, hoarseness, shortness of breath, wheezing, chest pain, weight loss, and loss of appetite. A few more symptoms associated with the early progression of the disease are feeling weak, being very tired, having trouble swallowing, swelling in the face or neck, and continuous or recurring infections like bronchitis or pneumonia. Signs of more advanced cases include bone pain, nervous system changes (headache, weakness, dizziness, balance problems, seizures), jaundice, lumps near the surface of the body, numbness of extremities due to Pancoast Syndrome, and nausea, vomiting and constipation brought on by hypercalcemia. Some more of the symptoms that indicate further progression of the cancer include shortness of breath, superior vena cava syndrome, trouble swallowing, large amounts of mucus, weakness, fatigue, and hoarseness.

Giant-cell carcinoma of the lung (GCCL) is a rare histological form of large-cell lung carcinoma, a subtype of undifferentiated lung cancer, traditionally classified within the non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC).

The characteristic feature of this highly lethal malignancy is the distinctive light microscopic appearance of its extremely large cells, which are bizarre and highly pleomorphic, and which often contain more than one huge, misshapen, pleomorphic nucleus ("syncytia"), which result from cell fusion.

Although it is common in the lung cancer literature to refer to histologically mixed tumors containing significant numbers of malignant giant cells as "giant-cell carcinomas", technically a diagnosis of "giant-cell carcinoma" should be limited strictly to neoplasms containing "only" malignant giant cells (i.e. "pure" giant-cell carcinoma).

Aside from the great heterogeneity seen in lung cancers (especially those occurring among tobacco smokers), the considerable variability in diagnostic and sampling techniques used in medical practice, the high relative proportion of individuals with suspected GCCL who do not undergo complete surgical resection, and the near-universal lack of complete sectioning and pathological examination of resected tumor specimens prevent high levels of quantitative accuracy.

A Krukenberg tumor refers to a malignancy in the ovary that metastasized from a primary site, classically the gastrointestinal tract, although it can arise in other tissues such as the breast. Gastric adenocarcinoma, especially at the pylorus, is the most common source. Krukenberg tumors are often (over 80%) found in both ovaries, consistent with its metastatic nature.

Combined small cell lung carcinoma (or c-SCLC, and rarely rendered as "small-cell lung carcinoma") is a form of multiphasic lung cancer that is diagnosed by a pathologist when a malignant tumor arising from transformed cells originating in lung tissue contains a component of small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) admixed with one (or more) components of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).

It most often arises centrally in larger bronchi, and while it often metastasizes to locoregional lymph nodes (particularly the hilar nodes) early in its course, it generally disseminates outside the thorax somewhat later than other major types of lung cancer. Large tumors may undergo central necrosis, resulting in cavitation. A squamous-cell carcinoma is often preceded for years by squamous-cell metaplasia or dysplasia in the respiratory epithelium of the bronchi, which later transforms to carcinoma in situ.

In carcinoma in situ, atypical cells may be identified by cytologic smear test of sputum, bronchoalveolar lavage or samples from endobronchial brushings. However, squamous-cell carcinoma in situ is asymptomatic and undetectable on X-ray radiographs.

Eventually, it becomes symptomatic, usually when the tumor mass begins to obstruct the lumen of a major bronchus, often producing distal atelectasis and infection. Simultaneously, the lesion invades into the surrounding pulmonary substance. On histopathology, these tumors range from well differentiated, showing keratin pearls and cell junctions, to anaplastic, with only minimal residual squamous-cell features.

Primary signet ring cell carcinoma of the colon and rectum (PSRCCR) is rare, with a reported incidence of less than 1 percent. It has a poor prognosis because symptoms often develop late and it is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage. Five-year survival rates in previous studies ranged from nine to 30 percent. Average survival was between 20 and 45 months. It tends to affect younger adults with higher likelihood of lymphovascular invasion. It is worth noting that the overall survival rate of patients with SRCC was significantly poorer than that of patients with mucinous or poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.

In advanced gastric cancers, the prognosis for patients with the SRCCs was significantly worse than for the other histological types, which can be explained by the finding that advanced SRCC gastric cancers have a larger tumor size, more lymph node metastasis, a deeper invasive depth and more Borrmann type 4 lesions than other types.

Lung cancer is a large and exceptionally heterogeneous family of malignancies. Over 50 different histological variants are explicitly recognized within the 2004 revision of the World Health Organization (WHO) typing system ("WHO-2004"), currently the most widely used lung cancer classification scheme. Many of these entities are rare, recently described, and poorly understood. However, since different forms of malignant tumors generally exhibit diverse genetic, biological, and clinical properties — including response to treatment — accurate classification of lung cancer cases are critical to assuring that patients with lung cancer receive optimum management.

Approximately 99% of lung cancers are carcinoma, a term that indicates that the malignant neoplasm is composed of, or descended from, cells of epithelial lineage (i.e. derived from embryonic endoderm, as is the case in lung carcinomas, or from ectoderm), and/or that the malignant cells exhibit tissue architectural, cytological, or molecular features characteristically found in epithelial cells. Under WHO-2004, lung carcinomas are divided into 8 major taxa:

- Squamous cell carcinoma

- Small cell carcinoma

- Adenocarcinoma

- Large cell carcinoma

- Adenosquamous carcinoma

- Sarcomatoid carcinoma

- Carcinoid tumor

- Salivary gland-like carcinoma

SCLC is generally considered to be the most aggressive of these major forms of lung cancer, with the worst long term prognosis and survival rates. As a result, it is recommended that all multiphasic malignant lung tumors (i.e. those with more than one histological pattern) that are found to contain "any" proportion of SCLC cells should be classified as c-SCLC, and "not" as combined forms of any of the other histological variants present in the tumor. Currently, the only exception to this recommendation occurs in cases where anaplastic large cell lung carcinoma (LCLC) is the second histological component. In these instances, a minimum of 10% of the viable malignant cells present must be identified as LCLC before the tumor is considered to be a c-SCLC. Under the WHO-2004 classification scheme, c-SCLC is the only recognized variant of SCLC.

Squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung is a type of non-small-cell lung carcinoma and is more common in men than in women. It is closely correlated with a history of tobacco smoking, more so than most other types of lung cancer. According to the Nurses' Health Study, the relative risk of SCC is approximately 5.5, both among those with a previous duration of smoking of 1 to 20 years, and those with 20 to 30 years, compared to never-smokers. The relative risk increases to approximately 16 with a previous smoking duration of 30 to 40 years, and approximately 22 with more than 40 years.

Gallbladder cancer is a relatively uncommon cancer. It has peculiar geographical distribution being common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern India; it is also common in certain ethnic groups e.g. Native American Indians and Hispanics. If it is diagnosed early enough, it can be cured by removing the gallbladder, part of the liver and associated lymph nodes. Most often it is found after symptoms such as abdominal pain, jaundice and vomiting occur, and it has spread to other organs such as the liver.

It is a rare cancer that is thought to be related to gallstones building up, which also can lead to calcification of the gallbladder, a condition known as porcelain gallbladder. Porcelain gallbladder is also rare. Some studies indicate that people with porcelain gallbladder have a high risk of developing gallbladder cancer, but other studies question this. The outlook is poor for recovery if the cancer is found after symptoms have started to occur, with a 5-year survival rate close to 3%.

The most common types of NSCLC are squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma, and adenocarcinoma, but there are several other types that occur less frequently. A few of the less common types are pleomorphic, carcinoid tumor, salivary gland carcinoma, and unclassified carcinoma. All types can occur in unusual histologic variants and as mixed cell-type combinations. Non-squamous cell carcinoma almost occupy the half of NSCLC. In the tissue classification, the centural type contains about one-ninth.

Sometimes the phrase "not otherwise specified", or NOS is used generically, usually when a more specific diagnosis cannot be made. This is most often the case when a pathologist examines a small amount of malignant cells or tissue in a cytology or biopsy specimen.

Lung cancer in never-smokers is almost universally NSCLC, with a sizeable majority being adenocarcinoma.

On relatively rare occasions, malignant lung tumors are found to contain components of both SCLC and NSCLC. In these cases, the tumors should be classified as combined small cell lung carcinoma (c-SCLC), and are (usually) treated like "pure" SCLC.

Early symptoms mimic gallbladder inflammation due to gallstones. Later, the symptoms may be that of biliary and stomach obstruction.

Of note, Courvoisier's law states that in the presence of a palpably enlarged gallbladder which is nontender and accompanied with mild painless jaundice, the cause is unlikely to be gallstones. This implicates possible malignancy of the gallbladder or pancreas, and the swelling is unlikely due to gallstones due to the chronic inflammation association with gallstones leading to a shunken, non-distensible gallbladder. However, Ludwig Georg Courvoisier's original observations, published in Germany in 1890, were not originally cited as a 'law', and no mention of malignancy or pain (tenderness) was made. These points are commonly missquoted or confused in the medical literature.

As of 2004, no simple and comprehensive classification system has been devised and accepted within the scientific community. Traditionally, however, malignancies have generally been classified into various types using a combination of criteria, including:

the cell type from which they start, specifically:

1. Epithelial cells ⇨ carcinoma

2. Non-hematopoietic mesenchymal cells ⇨ sarcoma

3. Hematopoietic cells

1. bone marrow-derived cells that normally mature in the bloodstream ⇨ Leukemia

2. bone marrow-derived cells that normally mature in the lymphatic system ⇨ Lymphoma

4. Germ cells ⇨ Germinoma

Other criteria that play a role in a cancer diagnosis include:

- The degree to which the malignant cells resemble their normal, untransformed counterparts

- the appearance of the local tissue and stromal architecture

- the anatomical location from which tumors arise

- genetic, epigenetic, and molecular features

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a form of thyroid cancer which has a very poor prognosis due to its aggressive behavior and resistance to cancer treatments. Its anaplastic cells have poor differentiation, including dedifferentiation.

Anaplastic tumors have a high mitotic rate and lymphovascular invasion. They rapidly invade surrounding tissues (such as the trachea). The presence of regional lymphadenopathy in older patients in whom needle aspiration biopsy reveals characteristic vesicular appearance of the nuclei would support a diagnosis of anaplastic carcinoma.

It is always considered as stage IV.

For several decades, primary lung cancers were consistently dichotomously classified for treatment and research purposes into small-cell lung carcinomas (SCLCs) and non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs), based on an oversimplified approach that is now clearly outmoded. The new paradigm recognizes that lung cancers are a large and extremely heterogeneous family of malignant neoplasms, with over 50 different histological variants included in the 4th (2004) revision of the World Health Organization typing system, the most widely used lung cancer classification scheme ("WHO-2004"). These variants are increasingly appreciated as having different genetic, biological, and clinical properties, including prognoses and responses to treatment regimens, and therefore, that correct and consistent histological classification of lung cancers are necessary to validate and implement optimum management strategies.

About 1% of lung cancers are sarcomas, germ cell tumors, and hematopoietic tumors, while 99% of lung cancers are carcinoma. Carcinomas are tumors composed of transformed, abnormal cells with epithelial tissue architecture and/or molecular characteristics, and which derive from embryonic endoderm. Eight major taxa of lung carcinomas are recognized within the WHO-2004 classification:

1. Small-cell carcinoma

2. Squamous cell carcinoma

3. Adenocarcinoma

4. Large-cell carcinoma

5. Adenosquamous carcinoma

6. Sarcomatoid carcinoma

7. Carcinoid

8. Salivary gland-like carcinoma

The subclassification of GCCL among these major taxa has undergone significant changes in recent decades. Under the 2nd revision (1981) of the WHO classification, it was considered a subtype of large-cell carcinoma. In the 3rd (1999) revision, it was placed within a taxon called "Carcinomas with Pleomorphic, Sarcomatoid, or Sarcomatous Elements", along with pleomorphic carcinoma, spindle cell carcinoma, carcinosarcoma, and pulmonary blastoma, which are (arguably) related variants. While the 4th revision ("WHO-2004") retained the same grouping of lesions as the 3rd revision, the name of the major taxon was shortened to "sarcomatoid carcinomas".

The current rules for classifying lung cancers under WHO-2004, while useful and improved, remain to some extent fairly complex, ambiguous, arbitrary, and incomplete. Although it is fairly common for mixed tumors that are seen to contain malignant giant cells to be called "giant-cell carcinomas", "accurate" classification of a pulmonary tumor as a GCCL requires that the "entire tumor" consists "only" of malignant giant cells. Therefore, complete sampling of the entire tumor — obtained via a surgical resection — is absolutely necessary for a definitive diagnosis of GCCL to be made.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classification scheme places neuroendocrine tumors into three main categories, which emphasize the tumor grade rather than the anatomical origin:

- well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumours, further subdivided into tumors with benign and those with uncertain behavior

- well-differentiated (low grade) neuroendocrine carcinomas with low-grade malignant behavior

- poorly differentiated (high grade) neuroendocrine carcinomas, which are the large cell neuroendocrine and small cell carcinomas.

Additionally, the WHO scheme recognizes mixed tumors with both neuroendocrine and epithelial carcinoma features, such as goblet cell cancer, a rare gastrointestinal tract tumor.

Placing a given tumor into one of categories depends on well-defined histological features: size, lymphovascular invasion, mitotic counts, Ki-67 labelling index, invasion of adjacent organs, presence of metastases and whether they produce hormones.

Historically, medical practitioners expected a person to present with three findings. This classic triad is 1: haematuria, which is when there is blood present in the urine, 2: flank pain, which is pain on the side of the body between the hip and ribs, and 3: an abdominal mass, similar to bloating but larger. It is now known that this classic triad of symptoms only occurs in 10–15% of cases, and is usually indicative that the renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is in an advanced stage. Today, RCC is often asymptomatic (meaning few to no symptoms) and is generally detected incidentally when a person is being examined for other ailments.

Other signs and symptom may include haematuria; loin pain; abdominal mass; malaise, which is a general feeling of unwellness; weight loss and/or loss of appetite; anaemia resulting from depression of erythropoietin; erythrocytosis (increased production of red blood cells) due to increased erythropoietin secretion; varicocele, which is seen in males as an enlargement of the pampiniform plexus of veins draining the testis (more often the left testis) hypertension (high blood pressure) resulting from secretion of renin by the tumour; hypercalcemia, which is elevation of calcium levels in the blood; sleep disturbance or night sweats; recurrent fevers; and chronic fatigue.