How to treat bone cancer ?
Treatment options for bone cancer depend on the type, size, location, and stage of the cancer, as well as the person’s age and general health. Bone cancer treatment typically involves surgery, chemotherapy, radiation or a combination of treatments.
Surgery
It is the primary treatment for bone cancer. The goal of surgery is to remove the entire bone cancer. To accomplish this, doctors remove the tumor and a small portion of healthy tissue that surrounds it.
- Limb-salvage surgery : Cancer is removed while preserving the bone’s limb, tendons, nerves and blood vessels. The removed bone is replaced with a bone graft or artificial replacement.
- Amputation : Tumor is removed with the bone to stop the cancer from spreading. Generally, it is done when the tumor is spread in bone’s nerves and blood vessels, and the limb cannot be saved.
- Curettage : Tumor is “scooped out” from the bone without removing the surrounding bone.
- Cryosurgery : Tumor is removed without the bone, and the tumor cavity is treated with liquid nitrogen which freezes the tumor cavity which kills the remaining cancerous cells.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses anti-cancer drugs to stop the growth of the cancerous cells by either killing them or halting the dividing process. These drugs enter the bloodstream and are carried around the body reaching all the areas and organs. Chemotherapy has several side effects which include nausea, vomiting, mouth sores (chemotherapy can cause sore sensations in your mouth and small ulcers can develop),
hair loss, bruising and bleeding (after minor injuries), anemia, low resistance to infections, tiredness.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is sometimes given together with surgery, to destroy tumors or to reduce the size of the tumor. Radiation therapy may also be used to kill remaining cancer cells after surgery, or treat tumors that cannot be surgically removed — sometimes in combination with chemotherapy.
Radiation therapy has a number of side effects. These include: skin pain, red skin, itching and burning skin sensations, desquamation (the exterior layer of the skin sheds), atrophy (the skin tissues die), low blood counts, swallowing problems, nausea and vomiting, and hair loss.
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