Bone cancer is a rare and frightening disease. Because most types of cancer do not originate in the bones, there has been less opportunity to study this form of the disease. Bone cancer can be treated and even cured, but you must recognize the signs and act fast to take aggressive action against this deadly disorder.
Function
Bone cancer is, literally, cancer in your bones. Bone cancer is caused when the cells in your body that are responsible for making bones multiply uncontrollably. This causes tumors on or inside your bones.
Features
Bone cancer is characterized by tumor growth on different areas of the bones. This includes tumors growing on soft tissues around bones in come cases, such as muscles and ligaments. Bone cancer frequently starts elsewhere in the body, then spreads to the bones.
Effects
The main effect of bone cancer is pain in the affected bone or joint. Over time, the pain worsens and may become constant. Sometimes you may feel a lump on the bone, or you may have difficulty moving certain joints. Some types of bone cancer cause fevers, chills and night sweats, but these are fairly unusual. Also, bone cancer makes bones brittle, so your bones may become more prone to breakage or fractures.
Identification
Bone cancer is generally diagnosed by reviewing medical history to start. This will give your doctor an idea of what types of bone cancer you are prone to, if any. Then, X-rays, blood tests and CAT scans can help show the doctor the location and type of the cancer, if in fact you have any. If no cancer appears in the tests but the conditions persist, may order an MRI to investigate the soft tissues of your body more thoroughly in case the tumor is on your ligaments or muscles instead of on or in the bones.
Prevention/Solution
In order to treat , your doctor will likely want to do a biopsy of the tumor. This involves removing some or all of the growth to determine if it is malignant, which means it will keep growing and continue to damage your health. Bone cancer is most often treated with surgery when possible, because this enables doctors to remove the entire affected area of the bone and take the cancer literally right out of your body. Chemotherapy can also be used to shrink tumors or make them disappear completely.
Warning
Bone cancer is particularly dangerous because it is a "spreading" cancer. This means that it may not have originated on your bone, and the cancer cells may be traveling through . If you suspect that you have any type of tumor--even if it is benign--you must contact your physician immediately for a full physical. If you do not, you may end up putting things off until it is too late to treat the cancer effectively.
Tags: Bone cancer, your body, bone cancer, your bones, your doctor, Bone cancer, cancer literally