Understanding Bone Cancer

Answer 1

Description

Bone cancer is a cancer type that can affect any of the bones in your body. It occurs when bone cells reproduce out of control, creating bone tumors.

Bone tumors are classified as either "primary" or "secondary." A primary bone tumor occurs in a bone in your body. They grow out of any bone, which can include the elbow, knee, or any bone. They can be quite painful and obvious depending on how large they grow.

A secondary bone tumor will start in a different site on the body involving bone cells, and then it can spread throughout the body through the bloodstream.

Primary bone tumors can be either benign or malignant. A benign tumor is one that will not grow anymore, and it can occur for a variety of reasons including diseases such as osteoblastoma, enchodroma, and so on.

Malignant bone tumors include Ewing's sarcoma, osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and others. Symptoms

Symptoms that lead to bone tumors most commonly start with pain. It may take a long time for someone who actually has a bone tumor to seek help from a medical professional since pain may be the only thing they initially notice, and they might think it's from a different cause.

Some patients may not even experience any pain at all, however. It might be that the only change they would notice is an extra amount of mass around one of their bones, which may not be initially obvious. In some cases, though, the bone might actually break. This is called a pathologic fracture.

Treatments

Chemotherapy and other kinds of radiotherqapy are often used for bone tumors. Ewig's sarcoma is an example of a type of bone cancer that can be drastically reduced by chemotherapy.

Medication such as biphosphates can make the bone stronger and help prevent damage. In extreme cases, the offending limb may be amputated.