What is cancer?
Cancer takes place when the normal cell growth and propagation is disrupted and abnormal cells divide and grow in an unrestrained way. This would spread into the other tissue of your body.
What is Bone cancer?
Bone cancer can be primary or secondary. Primary bone cancer originates in the cells of the bone tissue. Some types of bone cancer are; osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, chondrosarcoma etc… These bone tumours could be malignant or benign (non-cancerous). Secondary bone cancer occurs when the cancer is spread to the bones after originating somewhere else. They are spread most commonly from the prostate, breast and lungs.
Where bone cancer occurs in the body and exact name of the cancer:
There are many different types of bone cancer. These include
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Doctors are trying to combine surgery, radiation and chemotherapy and use it as target therapy. Some of these advances include the following:
Chemotherapy- New drugs and treatments are being used to decrease the long term effects of chemotherapy. Zometa (zoledronic acid) is being added to the bone cement after the removal of the tumour to decrease the chances of the coming back.
Radiation- Doctors are trying new improved radiation treatments such as proton beam radiation (used near sensitive organs) and carbon ion radiation (although the availability is very limited). These advances will make radiation more accurate and precise.
Target therapy is being developed, where it will work on and target something specific. Therapy drug, Opdivo, is used to slow down the growth of the tumour so the patient can live longer. Sprycel is used to treat hard-to-treat cancers such as chondrosarcoma. And Xgeva is used to help control giant tumours and prevent them from returning after surgery. These target therapies are not yet clear and more research is needed.
There are, however, many side-effects of the treatments of bone