﻿ Bone Cancer: Learn the Treatments and Symptoms

Bone Cancer

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What is bone cancer? What is metastatic bone cancer?

Bone cancer is a cancer of the cells that make up the bones of the body. When cancer is found in bones, it has usually started in another organ or another location in the body and has spread to the bones. This is known as metastatic cancer and is named for the site at which the original cancer started (for example, metastatic colon cancer) and is not referred to medically as bone cancer. It is much more common than true, or primary, bone cancer, where the bone cells themselves become malignant. Primary and metastatic bone cancers are often treated differently and may have a different prognosis.



Who is at risk for bone cancer?

Each year, around 2,300 cases of cancer of the bones are diagnosed in the U.S. Primary bone cancers are not common and make up far less than 1% of all cancers. Bone cancers are more common in young adults and children than in older people. Cancer found in the bones of an older adult most likely is metastatic from another location in the body.


Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 4/20/2015

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