Bone cancer-is a malignant (cancerous) tumor of the bone that destroys normal bone tissue

Bone cancer

It’s a malignant (cancerous) tumor of the bone that destroys normal bone tissue. Not all bone tumors are malignant. In fact, noncancerous (benign) bone tumors are very common than cancerous ones. Both malignant and benign bone tumors will grows and compresses the healthy bone tissue, but the noncancerous tumors will not spread, do not destroy bone tissue, and are rarely a threat to life.

Malignant tumors begins in the bone tissue are called primary bone cancer. Cancer that spreads (metastasizes) to the bones from other organs of the body, such as the lung, breast, or prostate, is called metastatic cancer, and it is named for the tissue or organ in which it began. Primary bone cancer is far less common than cancer that spreads to the bones.

Types of bone cancer:

• Osteosarcoma: This arises from osteoid tissue in the bone, occurs most in the upper arm and in the knee.
• Chondrosarcoma: This begins in cartilaginous tissue. Cartilage lines and pads the ends of bones in the joints. Chondrosarcoma occurs most often in the upper leg, pelvis (located between the hip bones), and shoulder.
• The ESFTs (Ewing Sarcoma Family of Tumors): which is usually occurs in the bones but may also arise in soft tissue (fat, muscle, blood vessels, fibrous tissue, or other supporting tissue). ESFTs occur most commonly along the backbone and pelvis and in the legs and arms.

Causes of bone cancer:

• Heredity
• High-dose external radiation therapy or treatment with certain anticancer drugs.
• Paget disease

Symptoms of bone cancer:

• Swelling or Pain in or near a bone

Diagnosis:

• Personal and family medical history
• A bone scan
• Blood tests for the determination of alkaline phosphatase enzyme level
• CT or CAT scan
• Biopsy (removal of a tissue sample from the bone tumor) to determine whether the cancer is absent or present. The surgeon may perform a needle biopsy or an incisional biopsy.
• X-rays
• A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• A positron emission tomography (PET) scan
• An angiogram, which is an x-ray of blood vessels.

Treatment:

Treatment options depend upon the size, type, location, and stage of the cancer, as well as the person’s general health and age. In general the treatments are available for the bone cancer includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and cryosurgery.

Surgery: It’s the common treatment for the bone cancer. During the surgery, doctor will remove the entire tumor with negative margins (no cancer cells are found at the border of the tissue or edge of the tissue removed during surgery). The surgeon may also use special surgical techniques to prevent the amount of healthy tissue removed with the tumor.

Chemotherapy is the drugs used to kill cancer cells i.e. anticancer drugs. Bone cancer patients usually receive a combination of anticancer drugs.

Radiotherapy also called Radiation therapy, which involves the use of high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells. This treatment may be used in combination with surgery. It is often used to treat chondrosarcoma, which cannot be treated with chemotherapy, as well as ESFTs. It may also be used for patients who refuse surgery.

Cryosurgery is the use of liquid nitrogen to freeze and kill cancer cells. This technique can sometimes be used instead of conventional surgery to destroy the tumor.

Cancer, benign, malignant, tumor, pain

• miller rw, boice jd, curtis re. bone cancer. in: schottenfeld d, fraumeni jf, editors. cancer epidemiology and prevention. 2nd ed. new york: oxford university press, 1996.
• http://www.cancer.org/cancer/bonecancer/detailedguide/bone-cancer-signs-symptoms
• http://www.medicinenet.com/bone_cancer_overview/article.htm
• http://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/bone-cancer/symptoms-and-signs