How Long Are Treatments for Osteosarcoma?
What is Osteosarcoma?
Osteosarcoma is a common type of malignant bone cancer, which accounts for 35 percent of malignancies that involve the bones. Most cases occur near the knee (50 percent) and it most often grows in the metaphyseal region of tubular long bones. The tumor is a malignant connective (soft) tissue that grows similarly to bone itself, forming tumoral bone. It is the sixth leading cancer in children under the age of 15. About 33 percent of the 900 patients will die each year. While 90 percent of patients are able to have surgery that salvages their limbs, complications such as tumor recurrence might result in further surgery or amputation.
How Long is the Treatment?
Since osteosarcoma can happen in various parts of the body and be accompanied by multiple complications, different timetables cover treatment of the disease. The most important factors for determining the type of treatment is location, needs of the patient and size of the tumor. Chemotherapy is typically the first step to ensure that the cancer is controlled and to shrink the tumor to make a more manageable surgery. Chemotherapy that occurs before and after surgery might take between eight and 12 months, but might be resumed if there is a recurrence of cancer. Around 90 percent of surgeries can save the bone in some way and several of those methods are bone grafts, rotationplasty, and the insertion of prosthetic joints. Healing for each method is on a case-by-case basis. In a patient under 10 years old with no further cancer, the patient can heal fully with ability to use the leg in about 18 months. When osteosarcoma spreads, it typically is found in the lungs. If cancer has spread from the original site of the osteosarcoma, the surgery will be more complicated in an effort to rid the body of all cancer. Once again, different factors in this situation will lead to different timetables.
Prognosis
The best prognosis for osteosarcoma involves the fewest number of metastases as opposed to a longer time in between metastases. If there has been more than two years since the last cancer detected with two or fewer instances, the prognosis is a 50 percent chance of surviving two years, a 40 percent chance of surviving five years and a 20 percent chance of surviving 10 years. Osteosarcoma can be misdiagnosed and it is only detectable after a series of tests beginning with an X-ray and ending with a surgical biopsy. Make sure that a qualified orthopedic oncologist performs the biopsy because a botched biopsy can result in amputation.
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