Bone cancer is the result of the unregulated cell growth in bone cells, cartilage or tissue. There are trillions of cells that form our body and which work together for smooth functioning of the body. In cancer, one of the cells does not pay attention to the normal signals that tell cells to grow, stop growing or to die. Bone cancer is a malignant tumor. It develops from the cells of the bone.  Bone cancer is generally classified as primary bone cancer & secondary bone cancer.

Primary bone cancer means the cancer which originates from bone cells & tissues. They are known as sarcomas cancer. While secondary bone cancer originates from some other part of the body and spreads to the body. It is also known as metastatic cancer. Primary bone cancer is very rare & patients are mostly diagnosed with metastatic cancer.

The main reason of cells to become cancer cells is the damage to DNA. In normal cases, the cells repair the DNA that is damaged or it dies. But in case of cancer, both cases won’t take place. That means neither the DNA gets repaired nor does the cell die. Moreover, this cell keeps on making new cells which our body doesn’t need & the cells will have the damaged DNA.

When cancer cells multiply & start destroying the bone that is where the bone cancer starts. It forms a painful lump or tumor in bone.

Bone cancer mostly develops around knee, wrist, shoulder and pelvis. The bone where the cancer starts beginning becomes weak & starts to cause problems. However non cancerous bone tumors are more common than malignant ones.

Multiple myeloma is the most common type of bone cancer but it starts in the blood forming cells in the bone marrow. Leukemia is another type of cancer that starts in the bone marrow. But it is considered to be a blood cancer rather than bone cancer.

There are three types of bone cancer: osteosarcoma (arises in tissues), chondrosarcoma (arises in cartilage), Ewing’s sarcoma (arise in immature nerve tissue).

Summary: The most common symptom of bone cancer is the pain & the usual treatment for it is surgery. Bone cancer accounts for 1% of all cancers. Biopsy is the only way to diagnose bone cancer in a patient. It is important that people who are diagnosed with bone cancer should take regular follow- up visits to the doctor & people should enroll in clinical trials which explores new treatments.

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