Bone Cancer
On this page:
Osteosarcoma is a disease in which cancer (malignant)
cells are found in the bone. It is the most common type of bone cancer. In
children, it occurs most commonly in the bones around the knee. Osteosarcoma
most often occurs in adolescents and young adults.
Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of bone (MFH) is
a rare tumor of the bone. It may occur following radiation treatments. MFH
is generally treated the same as osteosarcoma and appears to have a similar
response to treatment.
Ewing’s sarcoma is another kind of bone cancer, but
the cancer cells look different under a microscope than osteosarcoma cancer
cells.
If a patient has symptoms (such as pain and swelling
of a bone or a bone region), a doctor may order x-rays and blood tests. If
it is suspected that the problem is osteosarcoma, your doctor may recommend
seeing a specialist called an orthopedic oncologist. The orthopedic oncologist
may cut out a piece of tissue from the affected area. This is called a biopsy.
The tissue will be looked at under a microscope to see if there are any cancer
cells. This test may be done in the hospital.
The chance of recovery (prognosis) and choice of treatment
depend on the size, location, type, and stage of the cancer (how far the cancer
has spread), how long the patient had symptoms, how much of the cancer is taken
out by surgery and/or killed by chemotherapy, and the patient’s age, blood
and other test results, and general health.
Return
to top 
Once osteosarcoma has been found, more tests may be
done to find out if cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. This
is called staging. At present, there is no staging system for osteosarcoma.
Instead, most patients are grouped depending on whether cancer is found in
only one part of the body (localized disease) or whether the cancer has spread
from one part of the body to another (metastatic disease). Your doctor needs
to know where the cancer is located and how far the disease has spread to plan
treatment. The following groups are used for osteosarcoma:
The cancer cells have not spread beyond the bone
or nearby tissue in which the cancer began. In young patients, most tumors
occur around the knee.
The cancer cells have spread from the bone in which
the cancer began to other parts of the body. The cancer most often spreads
to the lungs. It may also spread to other bones.
Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come
back (recurred) after it has been treated. It may come back in the tissues
where it first started or it may come back in another part of the body.
Return
to top
If it is suspected that the problem is osteosarcoma,
before the first biopsy, your doctor may recommend a specialist called an orthopedic
oncologist.
There are treatments for all patients with osteosarcoma.
Three kinds of treatment are used:
- Surgery (taking out the cancer in an operation).
- Chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells).
- Radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays to kill cancer cells).
Surgery is a common treatment for osteosarcoma.
The doctor may remove the cancer and some of the healthy tissue around the
cancer. Sometimes all or part of an arm or leg may have to be removed (amputated)
to make sure that all of the cancer is taken out. If cancer has spread to lymph
nodes, the lymph nodes will be removed (lymph node dissection).
In patients with osteosarcoma that has not spread
beyond the bone, researchers are studying whether surgery without amputation
of the arm or leg (limb-sparing procedures) can be done without the cancer
coming back. Sometimes the cancer can be taken out without amputation, and
artificial devices or bones from other places in the body can be used to replace
the bone that was removed.
Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy
may be taken by pill or put into the body by a needle in a vein or muscle.
Chemotherapy is called systemic treatment because the drug enters the blood
stream, travels through the body, and can kill cancer cells throughout the
body. Chemotherapy with more than one drug is called combination chemotherapy.
Sometimes chemotherapy is injected directly into
the area where the cancer is found (regional chemotherapy). In osteosarcoma,
surgery is often used to remove the local tumor and chemotherapy is then given
to kill any cancer cells that remain in the body. Chemotherapy given after
surgery has removed the cancer is called adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapy
can also be given before surgery to shrink the cancer so that it can be removed
during surgery; this is called neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
Radiation therapy uses x-rays or other high-energy
rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation for osteosarcoma usually
comes from a machine outside the body (external radiation therapy).
Treatment for osteosarcoma depends on the stage
of the disease, where the cancer is found, and the patient’s age and general
health.
A patient may receive treatment that is considered
standard based on its effectiveness in a number of patients in past studies,
or may choose to go into a clinical trial. Not all patients are cured with
standard therapy, and some standard treatments may have more side effects than
are desired. For these reasons, clinical trials are designed to find better
ways to treat cancer patients and are based on the most up-to-date information.
Return
to top
- Chemotherapy followed by surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.
- Clinical trials are evaluating new methods of giving chemotherapy and new schedules
of treatment. The use of radiation therapy is also under study.
- Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by wide local excision of the
tumor.
Return
to top
Metastatic disease is cancer that has spread from
the place in which it started to other parts of the body. Unresectable disease
is cancer that cannot be removed with surgery.
Treatment may be one of the following:
- Chemotherapy followed by surgery to remove the cancer followed by
adjuvant chemotherapy.
- Surgery to remove the cancer followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.
Surgery often includes removal of cancer that has
spread to the lungs.
The standard treatments for patients with unresectable
or metastatic malignant fibrous histiocytoma of bone have not yet been determined.
Return
to top
Treatment depends on where the cancer recurred,
what kind of treatment was given before, as well as other factors. A clinical
trial may be a reasonable treatment option.
If the cancer has come back only in the lungs, treatment
may be surgery to remove the cancer in the lungs with or without chemotherapy.
If the cancer has come back in other places besides the lungs, treatment may
be combination chemotherapy. Clinical trials are evaluating new chemotherapy
drugs.
Return
to top
Ankylosing Spondylitis
