BONE CANCER

Types

Bone cancer is classified as either benign (low risk of progressing into a more severe disease), primary (origin of the defect is from the bone itself) and secondary (the source of the weakness is from other organs that have spread into the adjacent bony structures such as breast, prostate, and lungs).

Benign tumors are classified into the following:

• Osteosarcoma- a type of cancer that starts from the bone itself and is most likely to be present in the bones of young adults and children’s arm and leg.
• Chondrosarcoma- a type of bone cancer that produces excess cartilage inside the bone instead of the usual bone matrix composed of collagen, minerals, and keratin. Commonly affected sites include the hip bone, legs, and arms of middle-aged individuals.
• Ewing’s sarcoma- common sites include the hip bone, arms, and legs of young children. This type of malignancy was initially thought of as a result of trauma.

Symptoms

Pain in the affected area is the most common presenting symptom that prompts the individual to seek medical help. Other symptoms include discomfort that does not go away in the field of concern, and they are commonly persistent that wakes the patient up from sleep and pain upon exertion of the affected area.

Other non-specific symptoms include fever, cold feeling or chills during dawn, the irregular appearance of the affected area, hobbling gait (favors the non-affected site), weight loss, and tiredness proportion to the workload for the day).

There is no gold standard to diagnose bone cancer. However, the following ancillary procedures can help you arrive at the exact diagnosis.

• Physical examination- Upon presentation at the doctors’ clinic. The clinician will do a thorough physical examination and note for any irregularities such as the disparity in the size of the extremity, tenderness, or signs of venous occlusion.
• Routine radiologic imaging of the area – provides a clue as to the extent of involvement (if we are talking about tumors)
• Bone scans- utilizes a dye that can visualize the density of the bone.
• Biopsy is to determine the type of malignancy since the treatment option depends mostly on this procedure.

TREATMENT

Once the diagnosis of the type of malignancy has been established, here are the following treatment options.

For benign cases: Medications are given, and the response is monitored for any untoward symptoms that may arise. At the first sign of massive growth in the size of the tumor, aggressive management is then utilized.

For fatal cases: Removal or debulking surgery of the affected extremity, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are among the options.