#anaplastic

• Anaplastic — Pertaining to or characterized by anaplasia; exhibiting a total or partial loss of cellular differentiation and normal structural orientation within a tissue. In oncology, the term describes highly aggressive malignant tumors (such as anaplastic thyroid carcinoma or anaplastic astrocytoma), whose cells have reverted to a primitive, embryonic stage, displaying a very high division rate and an increased resistance to standard treatments.