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Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Osteosarcoma

What Is Osteosarcoma? | Risk Factors | Symptoms and Diagnosing | Stages | Treatment | About Clinical Trials | Greenebaum Cancer Center

Treatment

There are three primary treatments for patients with osteosarcoma:

Surgery

Surgery is a common treatment for osteosarcoma. The doctor may remove the cancer and some of the healthy tissue around the cancer. Sometimes all or part of an arm or leg may have to be removed (amputated) to make sure all the cancer is removed. If cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, the lymph nodes will be removed (lymph node dissection).

In patients with osteosarcoma that has not spread beyond the bone, researchers are studying whether surgery without amputation of the arm or leg (limb-sparing procedures) can be done without the cancer coming back. Sometimes the cancer can be taken out without amputation, and artificial devices or bones from other places in the body can be used to replace the bone that was removed.

Side effects of surgery: The side effects of surgery depend on the location of the cancer and the type of operation, among other factors. Although patients are often uncomfortable during the first few days after surgery, this pain can usually be controlled with medicine. The recovery period after an operation varies from patient to patient.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be taken by pill or injected into the body through a needle in a vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is called systemic treatment because the drug enters the blood stream, travels through the body and can kill cancer cells throughout the body. Chemotherapy with more than one drug is called combination chemotherapy.

Sometimes chemotherapy is injected directly into the area where the cancer is found (regional chemotherapy). In osteosarcoma, surgery is often used to remove the local tumor and chemotherapy is then given to kill any cancer cells that remain in the body. Chemotherapy given after surgery has removed the cancer is called adjuvant chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can also be given before surgery to shrink the cancer so that it can be removed during surgery; this is called neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Side effects of chemotherapy: Chemotherapy drugs generally fight rapidly dividing cells in the body. Cells that divide rapidly include both the targeted cancer cells and healthy cells in the blood, digestive tract and hair follicles. Depending on which anticancer drugs a patient receives, he or she may experience symptoms when healthy cells are damaged along with the cancer cells. If healthy blood cells are destroyed by chemotherapy, the patient may be more susceptible to infections, bruising or bleeding and fatigue. When cells in the hair roots or digestive tract are affected by anticancer drugs, the patient may have hair loss, nausea, vomiting or mouth sores. Not all chemotherapy patients develop all of these side effects, and the symptoms usually go away during the recovery period or after the treatments are done. Doctors can prescribe medicines and other treatments to control most of the symptoms.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses X-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation for osteosarcoma usually comes from a machine outside the body (external radiation therapy).

Side effects of radiation: The most common side effects of radiation therapy are tiredness, skin reactions in the treated areas (such as a rash or redness) and loss of appetite. Radiation therapy may also cause a decrease in the number of white blood cells that help protect the body against infection. Most of these side effects can be treated or controlled and in most cases they are not permanent.



This page was last updated on: September 21, 2009.