What is bone cancer?

The most prominent symptom of bone cancer is aches and pains, so in the early stages the patient is easily confused with osteoarthritis, spine .

Bone cancer is the appearance of a malignant tumor in the bone. These tumors often thrive and compete with healthy bone tissue, which can be life threatening.

Bone cancer can be either primary (locally arising cancer ) or secondary bone cancer (metastases from other organs to the bone) . Dr. Tran Quoc Khanh, Department of Spine Surgery, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, said that bone cancer is very rare, especially the primary bone cancer group, which accounts for only 0.5%. The disease is most common in children and young people (from 10 to 25 years old).

The primary cause of primary bone cancer is a genetic disorder related to cell division with a mutated gene. Some other causes include ionizing radiation during radiation therapy, trauma .

Secondary bone cancer is more common, usually in older people. According to Dr. Khanh, the most common cancer with metastases to the joints is lung cancer, accounting for about 30%, followed by breast cancer in women (about 24%), multiple bone marrow tumors (13%), cancer gastrointestinal cancer (9%) and prostate cancer in men (8%).

The most prominent symptom of bone cancer is soreness.(Photo: Medical News Today).

In the early stages, bone cancer usually has no expression or expression is unclear. By the later stages, the disease has symptoms of pain, swelling of the tumor, bone dysfunction, fracture, body weakness . Among them, the most prominent symptom of bone cancer is soreness. Pain usually localizes to a certain location, increases at night and intensifies with time. End-stage patients often experience problems such as fatigue, dizziness, loss of appetite, nausea, etc.In addition, when the tumor has spread to other parts, such as the lung, it will cause cancer. persistent cough, shortness of breath, pleural effusion. The tumor metastasized to the liver causing jaundice, yellow eyes, enlarged liver, dark urine.

To help diagnose bone cancer (both primary and metastatic), patients need to perform some or all of the tests, such as X-ray imaging of the planes, computed tomography and computed tomography. affected by lesion area, bone radiography, biopsy of lesion area for cytological examination. In addition, when it is suspected that bone cancer has spread from another organ, we need to carry out some additional surveys depending on specific cases such as chest X-ray, ultrasound of mammary gland, thyroid gland, prostate, blood cancer tests, gastroscopy, colon, PET scan .

"The disease is curable if detected and treated promptly , " the doctor said.

Regarding treatment, with primary bone cancer in young people, the use of chemicals before surgery combined with surgery to remove the tumor lesion area has very positive results, the survival rate over 5 years can be up to 60- > 70%. Selective radiotherapy of the affected area also provides very good results.

With secondary bone cancer, the prognosis is worse because this group of diseases usually appears in the elderly, accompanied by cancer lesions in one or more other organs (primary). The strategy for treating secondary bone cancer depends on many factors such as the condition of the patient, where the cancer is, the cancer has spread to one bone or many bones, and the determination of the patient and family. . The priority goal in treatment is still the quality of life (pain relief) for patients. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, etc.

In order to prevent bone cancer in particular and other types of cancer in general, it is necessary to have a healthy life and regular health checkups.

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