Oncology experts define bone cancer as the enlargement of unhealthy cells that begin in the human bones. Bone cancer can primarily start in the bones, or it may sometimes be the metastatic version of cancer present in any other part of the body. The age groups most affected by this type of cancer are children and young adults.
However, it can be found in people of all ages. As far as treatment options are concerned, surgical invasion, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are preferred by medical care experts. However, as per different cases, oncologists use a mix of these treatments as well.
What is Bone Cancer
Bone cancer refers to the growth of malignant cells in the bones of the patients. Mostly, the growth begins in the thighbone, however, it can begin in any other bone of the human body. In some cases, bone cancer is the result of cancer present in any of the other organs, say lungs or abdomen, and later spreads to the bones.
How does Bone Cancer affect people?
There are three main types of bone cancers found in the patients listed below:
- Osteosarcoma: This is the type of cancer that starts in the cells responsible for forming the bones. It is one of the most common types of cancers and is often found in teenagers and young adults. It mainly affects the long bones of the legs and arms of the patients.
- Chondrosarcoma: This type of cancer begins in the bones and sometimes can also appear in the soft tissues. The main areas affected by this type of bone cancer are the hip, shoulder, and pelvis. This type of malignancy is often found in older adults.
- Ewing sarcoma: This is a type of cancer that begins in the bone as well as the soft tissues surrounding the bones. This type of malignancy is often found in children and young adults. The areas of the body where it begins mainly include leg bones and the pelvic area.
Other less common bone cancer types include Chordoma (where tumours form in the spine or base of the skull), Fibrosarcoma (in this case the tumour is found in the fibrous tissues located at the end of the bones), Giant cell tumour (which begins normally as a non-cancerous growth but may turn cancerous at a later stage), and Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (this type of tumour aggressively spreads in the soft tissues of the bone).
What are the symptoms of Bone Cancer?
For some people, bone cancer symptoms may be as mild as the presence of a painless lump in a particular part of the bone. Whereas other people may experience noticeable symptoms. The biggest challenge is that even if there are visible symptoms, these might get easily overlooked or mistaken as arthritis symptoms, sports injuries, or growing pains due to several factors such as aging, change of weather, etc. Having said that, here are the key symptoms that could indicate the presence of a bone tumour in a patient’s body:
- Presence of a lump in the affected area: Sometimes, the affected areas have a painless lump present in the affected area. If the lump remains for a longer period, it requires attention.
- Pain in the bones: Bones affected by cancer in some cases may experience chronic and unbearable pain.
- Swelling near joints: The Presence of malignancy in the joints may cause swelling in these areas, causing pain in walking.
- Weakened bones: The Presence of cancerous tumours in the bones causes them to weaken, leading to the threat of broken bones in many cases.
- Difficulties in the movement: If a patient is experiencing swelling near the joint areas due to the presence of cancerous tumours, it may cause difficulty in the tumours.
- Consistent fatigue: Patients carrying bone tumours in their body may feel excessively tired and feel very less energy to move around. In such cases, consulting an orthocare expert and oncology expert is recommended to assess the situation and start the right treatment after diagnosis.
- Fever: Fever and continuous pain in different parts of the body may be a sign of an underlying condition that needs attention.
- Unexplained weight loss: If a patient is losing weight without trying, then it could be a sign of an underlying serious disease.
What are the causes of Bone Cancer?
Bone cancer begins when there is abnormal growth of unhealthy cells in the affected areas. However, there aren’t any specific reasons yet identified that explain the exact cause of bone cancer. Cancer that starts in bones may spread to other parts of the human body. Similarly, sometimes, a cancer present in different parts of the body can metastasise to bones. So far, the following are the key situations, which can be labelled as (not limited to) causes of bone cancer:
- Changes in the existing DNA structure of the bones may lead to bone cancer.
- However, it is very rare, but in some cases, bone cancer could be a result of genetic disorders such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome.
- If a patient has inherited the genetic mutation, it may lead to retinoblastoma, further increasing the risk of bone cancer.
- In very rare situations, benign bone conditions may also lead to bone cancer in the future.
- Sometimes, the bones may grow a non-malignant mass, which may further grow into a cancerous tumour.
- Cancer present in any other parts of the body may metastasise and reach the bones.
Diagnosis of Bone Cancer
It is very important to diagnose this rare type of cancer as early as possible to ensure a complete and successful treatment. The later the diagnosis, the higher the complexity. Here’s how the experts work with the diagnosis of bone cancer:
- X-rays: The first view of your bones is captured via X-ray. If the diagnosis experts find anything unusual in the X-ray, they may recommend you to go for advanced diagnosis systems.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): MRI provides detailed images of the areas around the bones to help better understand the presence of the disease.
- CT (computed tomography) scans: These scans help in taking in-depth look into the in and around areas of the bones to capture the size and structure of the present tumours better.
- Biopsy: A biopsy is conducted to confirm the earlier diagnosis of cancer present in the patient’s bones. In this process, a small piece of bone tissue is removed for further examination by pathologists.
Stages of Bone Cancer
Staging of the cancer disease helps the medical care experts to understand the severity of the ailment and how to plan suitable treatment for the same. For example, if the medical experts know that the tumour is localised, aka present in one place, they can plan the treatment accordingly. In cases where the ailment is metastasised, they might need to consider multiple oncology areas to treat the tumour. The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) divides bone cancer into 4 stages:
- Stage 1: At this stage, the cancer is low grade and hasn’t spread beyond its starting point.
- Stage 2: In this case, the cancer has not spread to the different parts of the bone, but the tumour has become high-grade.
- Stage 3: The tumour has become of high-intensity and has spread to different areas within the same bone.
- Stage 4: At this stage, the disease has reached beyond the bones and has spread into different parts of the human body (for example, lungs, liver, etc.)
Treatment of Bone Cancer
There are several types of treatments available for the treatment of bone cancer. Based on the stage and severity of the tumour, the oncologists decide to go with one of the following or a combination of the following treatment types:
- Chemotherapy: This therapy is commonly used to kill the cancer cells present in the body with the help of medicinal therapy. Normally, this therapy is used alongside surgery to support the cleaning up of cancer cells completely from the affected areas.
- Radiotherapy: Radiation therapy is used to shrink the size of the tumour in the bones. It is either used with surgery or alone instead of surgery depending upon the size and stage of the tumour.
- Surgical treatment: One of the most common treatments used for the removal of the bone tumour is surgery. In this case, the surgeon performs limb-sparing surgery, removing only the tumour and its surrounding healthy tissues in a small amount.
- Combination of the above treatment options: In certain cases, combination of chemotherapy and surgery is used and in other cases surgery as well as radiotherapy is used.
How to Prevent Bone Cancer
So far, there is not specific methods known to healthcare experts that can help prevent bone cancer. However, they strongly recommend that the patients should be able to pay attention to the early symptoms and get diagnosed. The earlier the problem is detected, easier it is for the doctors to treat it effectively.
Why Choose Cancerrounds?
Cancer Rounds is a trusted platform for helping domestic and international patients to get comprehensive cancer care support. If you or any of your loved one is struggling with bone cancer or any other type of cancer, do not consider yourself alone. Cancer Rounds is here with their expert care, offering top-notch support in helping you find best cancer care experts, get international travel support and many other solutions. Here’s what you can expect from us:
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Conclusion
Bone cancer is a rare occurence but it requires complete medical care and support from expert oncologists. It may occur due to several reasons, metstazing from other organ to bones being one of such reasons. The symptoms may not appear on the surface very easily and in that case it is important that the patient pays attention to the symptoms such as pain in the bones, fatigue, weakness etc. Once the stage of the cancer is detected, a proper treatment structure can be planned effectively.
