Types of Bone Cancer

Bones show its importance to human body, as it is required for motion and is also provider of support to the body.

It is necessary to know more about the structure of the bone, to have an improved understanding of the different types of bone cancer.

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. The bone marrow is 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 Red blood cells, White blood cells 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- the ‘bone forming cells’ and Osteoclast - ‘cells that dissolve or breakdown bone tissues’.

The term ‘tissue’ is frequently mentioned above. 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.

These are several types of bone cancers- ‘metastatic cancer’ (which is a cancer that was spread from somewhere else from the bone, cancers formed in the bone marrow that generates blood cells such as ‘multiple myeloma’, leukemia (though it is commonly thought of as a blood cancer) and lymphomas (though it is often found in lymph nodes, there are occasions when it starts in 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. Though most primary bone tumors lead to bone cancer, not all are cancerous.

Some cancerous primary bone tumors are:
Osteosarcoma - (also known as Osteogenic sarcoma) a major primary bone cancers that start in the bone cells.
Chondrosarcoma a bone cancer that starts 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) which starts 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.