Posts Tagged ‘Chemotherapy’

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.

| More

If you found this post informative, why not sign up to receive new posts ?
It's simple, and free, and you can even opt to receive by email:
Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to Good Health Tips by Email

What are some of the risk factors of cancer and bone cancer?

These cancers occur more frequently in children and young adults.
- Those who have had radiation or chemotherapy treatments for other conditions are majorly prone.
- Adults with Paget’s disease, a noncancerous condition characterized by abnormal development of new bone cells, will be at an increased risk for osteosarcoma.
- Children with hereditary retinoblastoma (an uncommon cancer of the eye) are at a higher risk of developing osteosarcoma.
- Many of these risk factors can be avoided.
- Others, such as family history, cannot be avoided.
- People can help protect themselves by staying away from known risk factors.

Cancer risk factors
- Growing older
- Tobacco
- Sunlight
- Ionizing radiation
- Certain chemicals and other substances
- Some viruses and bacteria
- Certain hormones
- Family history of cancer
- Alcohol
- Poor diet, lack of physical activity, or being overweight

Growing older
- The most important risk factor for cancer is growing older.
- Most cancers occur in people over the age of 65.

Tobacco
- Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of death.
- Using tobacco products or regularly being around tobacco smoke increases the risk of cancer.
- They also are more likely to develop acute myeloid leukemia (cancer that starts in blood cells).
Smokers develop cancer of the
- lung,
- larynx (voice box),
- mouth,
- esophagus,
- bladder,
- kidney,
- throat,
- stomach,
- pancreas,
- cervix

Sunlight
- Ultraviolet (UV) radiation comes from the sun, sunlamps, and tanning booths which causes early aging of the skin.
- Skin damage can lead to skin cancer.

Ionizing radiation
- Ionizing radiation can cause cell damage that leads to cancer.
This kind of radiation comes from rays
- that enter the Earth’s atmosphere from outer space,
- radioactive fallout,
- radon gas,
- x-rays,
- other sources
People exposed to fallout may have an increased risk of cancer like
- leukemia
- cancers of the thyroid,
- cancer of breast
- cancer of lung,
- Stomach cancer.

Medical procedures are a common source of radiation:
- Doctors use radiation (low-dose x-rays) to take pictures of the inside of the body.
- Doctors use radiation therapy.

Certain chemicals and other substances
- Jobs of painters, construction workers, and those in the chemical industry have an increased risk of cancer.
- Exposure to asbestos, benzene, benzidine, cadmium, nickel, or vinyl chloride in the workplace can cause cancer.

Some viruses and bacteria
Being infected with certain viruses or bacteria may increase the risk of developing cancer:
- Human papillomaviruses (HPVs): HPV infection is the main cause of cervical cancer.
- Hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses: Liver cancer can develop after many years of infection with hepatitis B or hepatitis C.
- Human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV-1): Infection with HTLV-1 increases a person’s risk of lymphoma and leukemia.
- Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV): HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. People who have HIV infection are at greater risk of cancer, such as lymphoma and a rare cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma.
- Epstein-Barr virus (EBV): Infection with EBV has been linked to an increased risk of lymphoma.
- Human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8): This virus is a risk factor for Kaposi’s sarcoma.
- Helicobacter pylori: This bacterium can cause stomach ulcers. It also can cause stomach cancer and lymphoma in the stomach lining.

Certain hormones
Estrogen alone or estrogen along with progestin hormones may increase the risk of breast cancer, heart attack, stroke, or blood clots.

Alcohol and Poor Diet
It can lead to developing of cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, larynx, liver, and breast.
Poor diet, lack of physical activity, or being overweight increases the risk of cancers of the colon, uterus, and prostate.