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Can my focal nodular hyperplasia turn into cancer?
There is no risk of malignant transformation in focal nodular hyperplasia regardless of its size. Your doctor will make sure that your tumor is not cancerous at the time of diagnosis. Afterwards, there is no need to worry about it turning malignant. With that said, benign tumors can still cause troubles if they enlarge rapidly and that is when surgical excision is indicated. Recurrence is not the rule, and an excised tumor is unlikely to recur. The cause that led to the development of the original tumor may persist, however, causing new ones to occur.
The main difference between the recurrence in benign and malignant tumors is that recurrence in the case of malignant tumors occurs when a piece of the original tumor is left behind during the surgery, in which case recurrence means that the outcome becomes much worse. In the case of benign tumors, it is a completely new occurrence, and no worse outcome is expected. Recurrence in benign tumors is treated like any other benign tumor and a watch-and-see policy can be followed. There is also no increased risk of malignancy in a recurrent benign tumor.
