What is Bone cancer? What are the first signs of bone cancer?

Bone cancer is a dangerous and fairly common oncological disease in which the tumor affects bone or cartilage tissue. The name primarily refers to a secondary lesion of bone with metastases. However, there are several primary neoplasms of bone tissue - osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma.

This malignancy mainly develops at a young age and in children, which makes bone cancer a very serious and urgent oncological problem. An important prognostic sign is early detection of the disease and timely seeking of qualified help. Therefore, it is very important to know how to detect bone cancer early and what diagnostic procedures to undergo first.

Reason for development

Like most malignancies, bone cancer has no specific cause. Until recently, the most significant were considered hereditary tendencies. Thus, Ewing's sarcoma most often develops in people with Paget and Li-Fraumeni syndromes. In addition, a genetic association of bone cancer with retinoblastoma has been proven.

Predisposing risk factors include:

external influence negative factors - ionizing radiation, chemical carcinogens;

the presence of bad habits, especially smoking;

some viral and iatrogenic diseases.

Bone Cancer Clinical Manifestations

How does bone cancer start? There are no specific symptoms attached to a particular tumor. However, it should be noted that some bone tumors may have similar symptoms in the early stages of development.

First of all, you should pay attention to pain in a limb or joint, which appears spontaneously, without any previous trauma or damage. The pain is aching, sometimes sharp, worse at night, and less relieved by analgesics.

It should be noted that in most cases, bone cancer affects large tubular bones and is often localized near ligaments and joints. For example, these are the femur, tibia, or humerus. Therefore, special attention should be paid to pain and discomfort in this part of the body.

In addition, it is important to distinguish the nature of the discomfort in the bone. If we talk about inflammation, then almost always pain is accompanied by other signs - limited mobility, redness, swelling. In the case of the oncological process, there are no signs of inflammation. In turn, symptoms of general intoxication of the body and activation of the immune system can be observed. This includes:

increased weakness and fatigue without motivation;

periodic increase in body temperature to subfebrile numbers (37.5-38 degrees);

nausea, dizziness, asthenia;

increased sweating, especially at night, headache.

The first signs of bone cancer in women can also be manifested by menstrual irregularities, bleeding from the genital tract. This is due to the influence of many tumors on the overall hormonal background.

If you notice any of the above symptoms, you should seek medical help immediately. The polyclinic doctor will refer you to a specialized specialist or prescribe additional diagnostic tests.

Diagnostic protocol for suspected bone cancer

In countries with advanced medical systems, for example in Israel, if a patient is suspected of having a malignant tumor in the bone tissue, the patient undergoes a specific examination algorithm. All procedures are carried out strictly by international protocols generally accepted in developed countries. This protocol makes it possible to make a diagnosis quickly if the first symptoms of bone cancer are detected in time.

First of all, the patient takes a general blood and urine test, undergoes an X-ray of the part of the body where the complaint is present. Along with general blood tests, detailed tests are performed, including biochemistry and tumor markers. This method of examination in 90% of cases allows you to accurately determine the diagnosis.

If the case is controversial, or for some reason there are difficulties, additional diagnostic methods are prescribed. These include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET-CT). Almost everyone is familiar with MRI, even those far from medicine, but so far few people know about PET-CT in the expanses of the former Soviet Union.

Positron emission tomography is a modern high-precision technological research method that determines the metabolic rate in tissues. Because tumor cells have a higher metabolic rate than healthy tissue, PET-CT has a very high resolution.

Modern PET tomography makes it possible to see clusters of cancer cells less than a millimeter in size, i.e. collections of hundreds of cells. This accuracy allows a very detailed definition of tumor spread and distinguishes it from healthy tissue.

The final step in the diagnosis of bone cancer is a puncture biopsy of material from the tumor. Basically, this is done by the fine needle method, under ultrasound control or computed tomography. The material is sent to a histological laboratory, where the exact histological type of tumor is finally determined.

Treatment Method

The choice of tactics for the treatment of bone cancer depends on many individual factors. These are the location of the tumor, the specific type of cancer, and the stage at which the disease was diagnosed. However, if we talk about the primary tumor foci and no metastases, the main method is the surgical removal of the formation.

In modern clinics, surgery for resection of bone neoplasms is performed using minimally invasive, sparing techniques. These are cryosurgical, laser, and radiofrequency tumor destruction techniques. If the tumor grows deep into healthy tissue and the surgeon has to remove most of the bone, the function of the limb or joint may be impaired.

In this case, the implant is placed at the site of the resection. Usually, an allograft is used - a piece of the bone itself from another part of the body, or a titanium replacement.

The traditional methods of treating bone cancer - chemotherapy and radiation treatment are starting to fade in the modern world. Instead, high-tech methods are used, for example, targeted and biological treatment, immunotherapy. If there are indications for the use of chemotherapy drugs, they are administered locally, using brachytherapy technology. Thus, the negative impact on healthy tissue is minimized.

A promising direction in the treatment of bone cancer is the use of monoclonal antibodies. Thus, the drug Pembrolizumab has shown high efficacy in the treatment of bone sarcomas, including in advanced stages.