Bone Cancer: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment.

The word cancer could be the last thing that any one wants to hear. The cancer is caused when there is any abnormal growth of the cells in a specific part of the body. When this happens in the bone tissues, it is called the bone cancer. There are three kinds of bone tissues in the bone - Compact tissue which is the hard outside of the bone. Cancellous tissue is on the inside which makes blood cells and the Subchondral tissue which are the tissues of the joints. The abnormal cell growth can happen in any of these tissues causing bone cancer. Benign or noncancerous; Malignant or cancerous; primary bone cancer and the secondary bone cancer are the various kinds of bone cancer.

The bone cancer causes are not quite clear despite the development of the medical sciences. The doctors can’t really explain that why some one has bone cancer and the other person doesn’t. Though, they can say for sure that bone cancer is not contagious. The doctors can’t explain why, but they believe that if a person is exposed to certain risk factors, he could have or can develop bone cancer. The risk factors would include – being at a certain age, being a young adult or a child; previous chemotherapy or radiation; Paget's disease history; any history of bone cancer in the family; inheritance of retinoblastoma. 

The symptoms of bone cancer could be a little tricky. An even a slight sign that could possibly indicate that one has bone cancer should rush to the doctor without delay. The patient might experience bone pain; tenderness & swelling near the affected area would be surfaced; the bones would go weak and would be quite prone to fracturing; unintended weight loss would be noticed and the person would start feeling weak. Fever and anemia could be other signs of bone cancer as well.

The treatment of bone cancer would depend upon many factors – like the stage at which the patient is, can the same be treated by drugs, how severe the symptoms are. Surgery could be an option where the part affected is removed. The surgery for bone cancer would include one for removal of the entire limb, when the cancer is in a complicated area or is covering a large area for that matter. Surgery to remove the affected area only and not the limb could be the second type of surgery and then the surgery which would not affect the limbs. Chemotherapy and Radiation therapy are the other alternative treatments for bone cancer.

The patient should be aware of all the possible treatments in details, so that he would be able to make a prudent decision about the same. The family should take care that the patient is not too depressed because of the situation, meeting other people with cancer, could help coping up with the cancer. A positive outlook is really important for any treatment to work. One needs to take all the precautions and treatment as directed by the doctor.