Bone Cancer

How to treat bone cancer by surgery?

Bone Cancer is the cancer that begins in the bone. Primary bone cancer is relatively uncommon with secondary or metastatic cancer. This is cancer that occurs initially in another organ and then spreads to bone tissue.

The most common types of bone cancer includes:
- Osteosarcoma,
- Ewing’s sarcoma,
- Chondrosarcoma,
- Malignant fibrous histiocytoma,
- Fibrosarcoma,
- Chordoma

Diagnosis of bone cancer:
- Check for a complete medical history.
- A description of your symptoms can help.
- A complete physical examination can help find the cause of your symptoms.
- Testing your muscle strength.
- Sensation to touch
- Reflexes
- Certain blood tests
- Plain X-rays
Benign tumors are more likely to have a smooth border while malignant tumors have a ragged border on X-ray images.

- A CT scan
- An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan.
- An angiogram, which is an x-ray of blood vessels.
- A bone scan.
- Obtain a biopsy sample of the tumor.
- Get examined in the laboratory by a pathologist.
- Determine what kind of tumor it is.

What is the treatment for bone cancer?
The best treatment is based on:
- the type of bone cancer,
- the location of the cancer,
- how aggressive the cancer is,
- whether or not the cancer has invaded surrounding or distant tissues (metastasized).

The main types of treatment for bone cancer:
- Surgery,
- Chemotherapy,
- Radiation therapy
- Cryosurgery
These can be used either individually or combined with each other.

Process of Surgery
- A surgical oncologist is a doctor who specializes in treating cancer using surgery.
- The most common treatment for bone cancer is bone cancer surgery.
- It involves total amputation of a limb or removing the cancerous portion of bone.
- Chemotherapy has made limb-sparing bone cancer surgery possible.
- If chemotherapy is possible then surgeons avoid amputation by removing only the cancerous section of the bone.
- This is then replaced with an artificial device called prosthesis or with bone from another place in the body.
- In some cases, all or part of an arm or leg may have to be removed(amputated).
- This is done to make sure that all of the cancer is taken out.
- If the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, the lymph nodes will also be removed (this is called lymph node dissection).
- A wide excision removes the tumor along with a margin of normal tissue around it in all directions.
- The amputation is needed depending on the tumor’s size or location.
- Wide excision surgical techniques have reduced the number of amputations.
- Prostheses are placing metal plates or bone from other parts of the body or to replace the missing bone and provide strength to the remaining bone.
- Amputation is required when the surgical area cannot be fully covered with soft tissue. Surgeons use soft tissue to cover the reconstruction area.
- This tissue helps in healing and reduces the risk of infection.
- To avoid amputation, some children can be fitted for expandable joint prostheses.
- These prostheses require multiple operations.

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How to treat Bone Cancer by Chemotherapy?

Bone Cancer is the cancer that begins in the bone. Primary bone cancer is relatively uncommon with secondary or metastatic cancer. This is cancer that occurs initially in another organ and then spreads to bone tissue.

The most common types of bone cancer includes:
- Osteosarcoma,
- Ewing’s sarcoma,
- Chondrosarcoma,
- Malignant fibrous histiocytoma,
- Fibrosarcoma,
- Chordoma

Diagnosis of bone cancer:
- Check for a complete medical history.
- A description of your symptoms can help.
- A complete physical examination can help find the cause of your symptoms.
- Testing your muscle strength.
- Sensation to touch
- Reflexes
- Certain blood tests
- Plain X-rays
Benign tumors are more likely to have a smooth border while malignant tumors have a ragged border on X-ray images.

- A CT scan
- An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
- Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
- An angiogram, which is an x-ray of blood vessels.
- A bone scan
- Obtain a biopsy sample of the tumor
- Get examined in the laboratory by a pathologist
- Determine what kind of tumor it is

What is the treatment for bone cancer?
The best treatment is based on:
- the type of bone cancer,
- the location of the cancer,
- how aggressive the cancer is,
- whether or not the cancer has invaded surrounding or distant tissues (metastasized).

There are three main types of treatment for bone cancer:
- Surgery,
- Chemotherapy,
- Radiation therapy
- Cryosurgery
These can be used either individually or combined with each other.

Process of Chemotherapy
- Chemotherapy is given by a medical oncologist, a doctor who specializes in treating cancer with medication.
- Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells.
- Systemic chemotherapy is delivered through the bloodstream.
- It targets cancer cells throughout the body.
- Chemotherapy can be received in their doctor’s office or outpatient clinic; others may go to the hospital.
- Treatment consists of a specific number of cycles given over a specific time.
- Chemotherapy for bone cancer can usually be given as an outpatient treatment.
- Chemotherapy is often useful for treating spreading cancer.
- Fast-growing bone cancer may be treated first with chemotherapy before surgery.
- This often reduces the size of the primary tumor.
- It may destroy tiny areas of metastasis if some of the cancer cells have spread to other areas.
- Particularly for osteosarcoma, treatment is required after surgery as it is not completely eradicated.
- These cancers sometimes recur as distant metastases (most often in the lungs).
- The use of chemotherapy has increased survival rates.
- For most high-grade tumors, chemotherapy is given for three to four cycles before surgery to shrink the primary tumor.
- This is done as the tumor is easier to remove.
- Chemotherapy before surgery may also improve survival
- This may kill cells that have spread from the original tumor.
- Chemotherapy can be used to better determine the prognosis.
- For Ewing’s sarcoma, this is the effective procedure

Types of Chemotherapy
- Chemotherapy that is given before surgery is called preoperative chemotherapy, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or induction chemotherapy.
- After the surgery too the patient may receive additional chemotherapy to kill any remaining tumor cells. This is called postoperative or adjuvant chemotherapy.