Therapy | Bone Cancer

Therapy

The choice of the most appropriate treatment for bone cancer depends on both the type and the spread of the tumor. In most cases, a good prognosis can only be achieved by combining several forms of treatment. Possible treatment options in the presence of a bone tumor are chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy.

For the most common form of bone cancer, osteosarcoma, surgical removal of the tumor is the treatment method of first choice. Since osteosarcoma is an extremely aggressive form of bone cancer, surgical treatment must usually be combined with chemotherapy. In this context it is possible to start chemotherapy before or after surgery.

The main purpose of initiating chemotherapy before removing the bone cancer is to reduce the size of the tumor. Radiation treatment, on the other hand, is only rarely helpful in the presence of an osteosarcoma. The reason for this is that this form of bone cancer is only slightly sensitive to radiation.

In addition to the size and spread of the bone cancer, the presence of distant metastases is of particular importance when choosing the most suitable treatment method. During surgical removal of the tumor, attempts are now being made to avoid amputation of the affected extremity. However, this is only possible if the success of treatment cannot be increased by amputation.

Ewing’s sarcoma, which is the second most common bone cancer in children and adolescents, is sensitive to radiation, in contrast to osteosarcoma. For this reason, this form of bone cancer can be treated with both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In most cases, however, treatment of Ewing’s sarcoma begins with ordinary chemotherapy.

The combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy can usually control the growth of the bone cancer in the area of the bone marrow. For this reason, the prognosis for Ewing sarcoma is generally relatively good. However, since this form of bone cancer tends to form metastases (preferably in the lung), the diagnosis should be made early on if possible and appropriate treatment should be initiated promptly.