BONE NEOPLASTIC DISEASE
Diseases that cause abnormal and excessive growth of cells in an area are known as neoplastic diseases. The abnormal growth that is formed when cells divide and grow more than they should and don’t die when they should is known as neoplasm or tumour.
Neoplasms can be either benign or malignant. Benign tumours normally grow slowly and can’t spread to other tissues. Malignant tumours on the other hand can grow either with a slow or fast pace depending on the type of tumour. Malignant tumours carry risk metastasis or spreading to multiple tissues and organs. One of the most prominent examples of this is Bone Neoplastic Disease.
Bone tumours are formed in the bones and as these tumours grow, they tend to displace healthy bone tissue. Bone tumours can be of two types, benign and malignant. Benign bone tumours tend to stay in place, if they grow, they can compress healthy tissue and cause future issues. Some types of benign bone tumours are, Osteochondromas, nonossifying fibroma unicameral, and enchondroma. Malignant bone tumours cause the cancer to spread throughout the body. Some types of malignant bone tumours are Osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma family of tumours and multiple myeloma.
Causes of bone tumours:
No direct cause that has been found till now. Osteosarcomas have been linked to radiation treatment and anti-cancer drugs in children. Osteosarcomas are also seen to develop in patients whose bone fractures have been repaired with metal implants. Other causes are genetics and injury to bones.
Symptoms of bone cancer:
Focal symptoms are regional or localised pain, tiredness, decreased range of motion in joints and swelling of soft tissue. Systemic symptoms include fever. Other symptoms that are suggestive of malignant tumours are night pain and pathological fractures.
Diagnosing bone tumours:
For patients who have stopped growing, alkaline phosphate test of blood and urine is recommended. Bone tissue when active in forming cells releases large amounts of an enzyme that is detected by this test.
Several other imaging tests are also used like, CT scan, MRI, PET and Anteriogram. CT scans are useful for evaluation of the cortex. MRI is useful in detecting bone marrow lesions. PET is used to detect metastases. Biopsies are effective to determine whether the tumour present is benign or malignant. Using biopsy, a sample of the tumour is removed and then examined in a lab under a microscope.
Treatment of Benign bone tumours:
Children have a high probability of their bone tumours disappearing as they mature and grow. The most common method to treat benign tumours is through surgery.
Treatment of Malignant bone tumours:
1. Surgery: If the cancer is in the arm or leg, limb salvage surgery is done. In surgery, the surgeon examines the margins of the tumour and the entire tumour is removed making sure no cancer cells are left.
2. Radiation therapy: High doses of X rays are used to shrink tumours before surgery and kill cancer cells.
3. Chemotherapy: In this method, anti-cancer drugs are used to kill the rapidly growing cancer cells. Some side effects of chemotherapy include nausea, irritability, hair loss and extreme fatigue.
4. Cryosurgery: A hollow tube is inserted into the tumour and liquid nitrogen or argon gas is pumped, this freezes cancer cells. This method is sometimes preferred over regular surgery.
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