Bone Cancer Treatment

Summary of Treatment Options

Like most cancers, treatment for bone cancer involves surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. For most forms of bone cancer, surgery is indispensable. It is usually the most important element in a comprehensive approach to fighting cancerous cells and consists of removing as little of the bone as possible to avoid the loss of a much needed arm or leg. Treatment, however, depends on a variety of factors, including the stage of the cancer, the type of cancer, as well as the cancer's grade or aggressiveness.

Surgery

Surgery comes in two forms: limb salvage surgery and amputation. In more than fifty percent of cases, surgery can be performed sparing the intricate nerves, tendons and vessels and without having to remove an entire limb. Surgical intervention for bone cancer has come a long way in the last thirty years or so but it still requires highly skilled and experienced physicians. Even in cases involving children, internal prosthesis technology has reached a point where artificial implants that "grow" alongside the remaining bone tissue are possible.

An amputation is performed when the tumor in question is too large and/or has spread to the bone's nerves or blood vessels. Even with this type of radical surgery, much of the limb's use can be restored with the use of prosthetics. In cases where the leg is amputated above the knee, sometimes the ankle is attached to the knee joint and a prosthetic is used to elongate the leg, thus salvaging leg use.

Surgery is also used employed when the cancer has spread to other organs, such as the lungs. Many factors influence the decision to intervene in cases like these, such as the number of tumors that have developed in these organs as well as their size and the overall condition of the patient.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy is often used in conjunction with surgery, sometimes before intervention, in order to shrink the tumor, and sometimes after surgery, in order to kill any remaining cancer cells in the bone tissue. Radiation therapy, however, is not that effective against bone cancer cells. Only when the cancer cannot be removed completely by surgery will this therapy be considered.

Chemotherapy

In bone cancer, chemotherapy is usually used when cancerous cells have spread to other areas of the body. It is usually not used if otherwise with the exception of Ewing Sarcoma, which is a type of bone cancer that affects primarily children and teenagers and which develops in the cavity of the bone.