A rare disease, bone cancer starts in the cells that can then spread to other parts of the body, especially the pelvis or the long bones in the arms and legs. Children are mostly affected by bone cancer, while others affect adults in general. The cancer can be generally treated by surgical removal, but chemotherapy and radiation therapy also may be employed.
Symptoms of Bone Cancer
Signs and symptoms of bone cancer include bone pain, swelling and inflammation near the affected area, debilitated bone, exertion, inexplicable weight loss. You should consult a doctor if you or your child suffers pain that comes and goes, deteriorates at night, or is not treated by general pain killers.
Causes of Bone Cancer
Doctors aren’t sure why bone cancers occur, but a small number of bone cancers have been associated with genetic factors.
Types of bone cancer
- Osteosarcoma. This is the most common form of bone cancer. In this cancer, the tumorous cells produce bone. This type of bone cancer happens most frequently in children and young adults, but osteosarcomas can emerge outside of bones.
- Chondrosarcoma. In this second most common form of bone cancer, the cancerous cells produce cartilage, which typically affects young and older adults.
- Ewing sarcoma. These cancers generally affect the pelvis, legs or arms of young kids and adults.
Secondary bone cancers
The most common bone cancers in adults, these cancers develop when a cancer metastasizes to the bone from somewhere else in the body. While a majority of cancers can spread to the bones, individuals with breast and prostate cancers are mostly vulnerable to developing secondary bone cancer.
Risk factors of Bone Cancer
Doctors have not been able to ascertain why bone cancer happens, but they have found certain factors that are linked with an amplified risk, including inherited genetic syndromes and radiation therapy for cancer.
Treatment of Bone Cancer
The treatment for bone cancer hinges on many factors such as the type of bone cancer, its location in the body, and its gravity. Bone cancer can be treated through a number of ways, including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
Malignant bone tumors need to be treated more aggressively, while medication can easily treat benign tumors. Your physician may eliminate benign tumors that most probably spread or become cancer. In some situations, tumors resurge, even after treatment. Tumors triggered by bone cancer, whether primary or secondary, may need to be treated by several oncologists. Treatment hinges on how far it has metastasized, called its stage. Cancer cells restricted to the bone tumor and nearby area are at a limited stage. Tumors that spread to or from other areas of the body are more critical and a treatment is much trickier. Cancers of the bone are most often eliminated with surgery.