Bones show its importance to human body, as it is required for motion and is also provider of support to the body.
To understand more about bone cancer and the different types of bone cancer, knowing more about the structure of the bone would be ideal.
The outer part of the bone is a fibrous tissue called matrix on which calcium salts are laid down. The matrix is part of the outer membrane of the bone- the Periosteum.
Inside hollow bones, there is a soft tissue known as bone marrow, found in a space called the Medullary cavity. The bone marrow can be either a fatty tissue only or a mixture of fat cells as well as blood generating cells. These blood generating cells in the bone marrow are responsible for the production of Erythrocytes, Leukocytes and Platelets, which are important components of blood.
At the two ends of a bone, there is a tissue known as cartilage which is soft but firm, acting as a cushion between bones.
The bone tissue or the osseous tissue contains two different kinds of cells. They are, Osteoblast and Osteoclast which are functionally known as the ‘bone forming cells’ and cells that dissolve or breakdown bone tissues, respectively.
The term tissue was commonly mentioned in the description of the structure of the bone. A tissue can be defined simply, as a group of cells who have a common function. Therefore, it is obvious that there are many cells forming a bone and any one of these cells mentioned above can develop in to a cancer.
There are several types of bone cancers- ‘metastatic cancer’ a cancer that spreads elsewhere from its origin), bone marrow related cancers that gives rise to ‘multiple myeloma’, leukemia (though it is commonly thought of as a blood cancer) and lymphomas which commonly originates in the lymph nodes but occasionally origins from the bone marrow).
The main type of bone cancers are the bone tumors that starts in the bone, which are also known as primary bone tumors. Some of the bone tumors do lead to bone cancers; however, not all bone tumors are cancerous.
The following are the names of some cancerous primary bone tumors:
Osteosarcoma - (also known as Osteogenic sarcoma) a major primary bone cancers that start in the bone cells.
Chondrosarcoma a bone cancer that originates in the cartilage cells (the second most common primary bone cancer).
Ewing tumor (which is a bone cancer starting off either in bones or in other tissues)
Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) mostly starting off in soft tissues than in bones
Fibrosarcoma (which is also similar to MFH)
Giant cell tumor of bone (which is less often found as a bone cancer- as it takes the non cancerous form)
Chordoma (a bone cancer that develops in the skull and bones of the spine).
All different types of bone cancers can be treated using, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgery.
