The Treatments of Bone Cancer
By Antin. There are many different methods available for your doctor to run bone cancer treatments. The treatment and prognosis of bone cancer depend upon multiple factors including the type and extent of the cancer, the patient’s age and overall health status. The best treatment is based on the type of bone cancer, the location of the cancer, how aggressive the bone cancer is, and whether or not the cancer has invaded surrounding or distant tissues. There are three main types of treatment for bone cancer: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Bone cancer may be treated with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these.
Radiation therapy. Radiation therapy — also called radiotherapy or X-ray therapy — treats bone cancer with beams of high-energy particles, or waves (radiation), such as gamma rays or X-rays. Although radiation can affect healthy bone cells as well as cancer cells, it’s much more harmful to bone cancer cells. In addition, normal bone cells can recover from the effects of radiation more easily than bone cancer cells.
Surgery. Surgery is the most common treatment for bone cancer. Surgery for cancer that hasn’t spread involves removing the cancer and a rim of healthy bone surrounding it. The goal of surgery is usually to remove the entire tumor and a surrounding area of normal bone.
Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy uses medications to kill rapidly dividing cells (like bone cancer cells). Bone cancer cells that continuously divide to form more cells, and healthy cells that divide quickly, such as those in your bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive system and hair follicles will be affected on chemotherapy.
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May 30th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
[...] on the type of bone cancer you have and whether it has spread, the doctor may use chemotherapy [...]