These highly malignant tumors are composed of abnormal cancerous bone cells . They can spread throughout the body, producing new masses.
Osteogenic sarcoma occurs most commonly during or just after the years of rapid growth, in the teens and early twenties.
Symptoms There is usually swelling and persistent pain in the involved bone, which is most commonly just above or below the knee, in the hip or in the arm at the shoulder. Any bone may be involved, however. Because of the weakening of the bone by the tumor, there may be a fracture at the cancer site.
Diagnosis and Staging An x-ray may lead to suspicion of an osteogenic sarcoma, but a biopsy is needed for a diagnosis. Determining the extent of disease—staging—is done by looking at the most likely areas of spread with CT, MRI and bone scans. These areas include the lung, other bones and the central nervous system.
Treatment by Stage
Localized
This stage of the disease is highly treatable and often curable. The surgeon, radiation oncologist and pediatric oncologist, along with the pathologist and radiologist , meet to plan the overall approach to therapy.
