Metastatic Bone Cancer

Metastatic bone cancer are cancers that actually start in a totally different location or organ or area of the body, and spread to the bones. It has been found that 90% of metastatic bone cancers are caused by primary breast cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer and thyroid cancer. In the following paragraphs, we shall discuss about its symptoms, treatment and prognosis.

Causes
Bones are made up of calcium, phosphate and protein collagen. On the outside, it is made up of cortex and the spongy center of the bone is called cancellous bone. The spaces between the spongy center is made up of the bone marrow. The bone marrow is where red blood cells that help in transportation of oxygen, white blood cells that help in fighting infections and platelets that help in blood clotting are produced.

Cancer cells from a primary tumor, that is cancer of other organ, break off and travel to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or blood stream. These cancerous cells get lodged in some other part that may be far away from the original area. There are certain areas where certain cancer types tend to spread, like the bones or liver. Primary cancers that spread to bones are called bone metastasis. These secondary bone cancers are not the same as bone sarcoma, that is, those originating within the bone. The metastatic bone cancer consists of cancerous cells that are similar to the original tumor site and not abnormal bone cells. The cancer cells generally prefer to lodge themselves in the middle of the body. Therefore the most common site for spread of the cancer is the spine. Other bones affected by metastatic cancer are pelvis, upper leg bones, upper arm bones, ribs and skull.

The metastatic bone cancer tends to wear away tiny bone pieces that leads to osteolytic lesions. This makes them fragile and prone to bone fractures. The cancer may also stimulate the bones to form and build up abnormally. These new bones formed are known as osteoblastic or osteosclerotic lesions. These new bones are very weak and break or collapse very easily. There is a lot of pain involved on the site of these bones.

Symptoms
There are many symptoms that arise due to metastasis of cancer to the bone. These metastasis bone cancer symptoms are as follows:

• Bone pain: One may suffer from pain in the bone that seems to come and go. Most of the time the pain is severe at night and as the cancer increases, the bone pain gets worse.
• Fractures: Bones that get easily fractured or a sudden pain in the spine, indicates broken bone of the spine due to metastatic cancer.
• Spinal Cord Compression: The spine may get compressed, that may cause pain, numbness, weakness in legs, problems with bladder and bowels, etc.
• High calcium levels in blood: Hypercalcemia leads to low appetite, nausea, thirst, constipation, confusion and fatigue. When left untreated, it may make the person go into a coma.
• Low blood cell count: Metastatic bone cancer may lead to low red blood cell count leading to anemia, weakness, shortness of breath, etc. It may also cause low white blood cell count that leads to frequent infections, fever, chills, fatigue, etc. Low platelet count may lead to abnormal bleeding.

Treatment
There are many treatment options that help in managing this secondary cancer. The treatment options include:

• Use of bisphosphonates
• Chemotherapy
• Hormone therapy
• Radiation therapy
• Surgery
• Pain management therapy like physical therapy and making use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Prognosis
Metastatic bone cancer prognosis is poor, especially once the cancer spreads to the bones. The treatment generally aims to make life better for the cancer patient. The causes considerable pain and loss of mobility for the patient. The average metastatic bone cancer survival rate after diagnosis is about 24 to 36 months with treatment and therapy. The life expectancy depends on different factors. These include the progression of the disease, the type of primary cancer and the aggressiveness of the cancerous cells. There are different stages of bone cancer and the prognosis as well as the survival rate both depend of the stage of disease.

You need to speak to the doctor regarding the disease as well as progression of the cancer. There are many clinical trials available that may help in the treatment. You need to speak to your doctor about every detail regarding the trial before volunteering.