Category C - Neoplasms

The terms "tumor" and "cancer" are often used interchangeably in medical literature and both are synonyms for "neoplasm" or "neoplastic" disease. No distinction is made at present between malignant or benign neoplasms.

MeSH vocabulary distinguishes between the site of the neoplasm (such as LUNG NEOPLASMS, BRAIN NEOPLASM, etc) and its histological type (such as ADENOCARCINOMA, SARCOMA, etc.)

Indexing Policy
If discussed in the article, index the neoplasm under both the site (a pre-coordinated organ-neoplasm heading) and the histological type.

Basal cell carcinoma of the skin.
CARCINOMA, BASAL CELL (histological type)
SKIN NEOPLASMS (site)

MeSH vocabulary contains numerous terms related to NEOPLASMS. In addition to the C4 Tree, these terms are located in several other trees.

The simultaneous occurrence of several neoplasms is indexed with the MeSH terms such as NEOPLASMS, MULTIPLE PRIMARY, NEOPLASMS, SECOND PRIMARY, etc. These terms are used in addition to the specific organ/neoplasm and the histological type terms.

General metastatic process is indexed with the MeSH term NEOPLASM METASTASIS. A metastasis of a specific neoplasm from one site to another is indexed with the subheading /secondary.