Primary bone cancer begins in the bone itself and is quite rare. It can grow in any of the bones in the body. Most often it occurs in the long bones of the arms and legs, the pelvis, ribs, and the spine. Bone cancer forms in the cells that make hard bone tissue.
A benign tumor can grow but will not spread to the other parts of the body; it can grow large enough to press on surrounding tissue, weaken the bone, and cause the bone to fracture. There are numerous types of bone cancer. Most primary bone cancers are called sarcomas, as they can affect soft tissues such as muscles and nerves as well as the bone. Osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and rare bone cancers are the different types of bone cancer.
Statistics
Less than 0.2% of all cancers are primary bone sarcomas. This year, 3,610 people of all ages (2,100 men and boys and 1,510 women and girls) were diagnosed with bone cancer, and an expected 2,060 deaths (1,190 men and boys and 870 women and girls) from this disease will occur this year.
Risk Factors And Symptoms
- Genetics
- Children with familial retinoblastoma
- A history of sarcoma in their family
- Li-Fraumeni syndrome
- Previous radiation therapy
- Chemotherapeutic drugs
- A prior history of Paget’s disease
- Other noncancerous bone diseases
- Fibrous dysplasia
Symptoms include bone pain, broken bones, backache, fractures, pressure on the nerves in the spine (spinal cord compression), high levels of calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia), and low levels of blood cells.
Prevention
There is no way of preventing bone cancer.
Treatment
Surgery (amputation, limb-salvage surgery, reconstructive surgery, curettage, cryosurgery, bone cement), radiation therapy (external beam radiation therapy, intensity-modulated radiation therapy, proton-beam radiation, extracorporeal radiation), chemotherapy (Doxorubicin, Cisplatin, Etoposide (VP-16), Ifosfamide, Cyclophosphamide, Methotrexate, Vincristine), and targeted therapy (Imatinib, Denosumab & Interferon) are the treatment options.
