Osteosarcoma is a type of bone cancer most commonly seen in children and adolescents. It is the most common primary bone tumor in children. Moreover, it is the third most common cancer in adolescents. There are approximately 3.1 cases per million people per year, and death rates have steadily declined by 1.3% per year (2). Moreover, there are several places where this tumor develops more often than other places, for example, the humerus. In such cases, it affects the shoulder bone near the shoulder joint. In addition, osteosarcoma often appears in the lower part of the femur, near the knee joint, or in the tibia, namely in the upper leg. Less commonly, the tumor occurs in flat bones, such as the pelvis or skull, and even more rarely, it may be found in soft tissues rather than bones. Most osteosarcomas in children develop inside the bone. However, it can also develop on the outer surface of the bone (superficial tumors).
Usually, osteosarcoma develops after the age of ten years and very rarely affects children under five years of age. In addition, there are certain risk factors that formulate a specific pattern in the diagnosis. Therefore, this tumor occurs more often in male patients than in females (1). In addition, people who receive radiation therapy after undergoing cancer are also at an increased risk of developing osteosarcoma (1). This tumor develops less often in representatives of the Caucasian race than in children of the Negroid race. Moreover, a genetic factor may also increase the chances of developing osteosarcoma since a small percentage of children have specific mutations in the genes. These changes increase the risk of developing not only osteosarcoma but also other types of cancer.
In the early stages, the symptoms of osteosarcoma may be subtle or similar to other diseases; moreover, they depend on the location of the tumor. Among the main symptoms are pain in the bone or joint, hardness or swelling in the area of pain, and difficulty moving the joint (3). In addition, patients experience fever, fatigue, loss of appetite or weight, lethargy, and poor health. Diagnosis begins with a study of the medical history and a blood test to identify risk factors (3). Further, tumor imaging techniques and biopsies are used to make the correct diagnosis and determine the type of treatment. Osteosarcoma can be localized or, in 20 percent of cases, metastasize.
There are several types of treatment, depending on the location, stage, and kind of osteosarcoma. If possible, the tumor is removed by surgery, deleting some of the surrounding tissue to ensure no carcinoma cells are left. Chemotherapy drugs kill cancer alveoli or stop them from growing and multiplying. After surgery, radiation may be used to try to destroy carcinoma cells or slow their growth. Kinase inhibitors block a protein responsible for increasing the number of cancer alveoli. Monoclonal antibody therapy uses particular proteins that attach to cancer cells to kill them or slow their growth.
References
- Harris MA, Hawkins CJ. Recent and ongoing research into metastatic osteosarcoma treatments. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2022;23(7), 3817; Web.
- Wang SY, Hu HZ, Qing XC, Zhang ZC, Shao ZW. Recent advances of drug delivery nanocarriers in osteosarcoma treatment. J Cancer, 2020;11(1), 69-82; Web.
- American Cancer Society. Surgery for Bone Cancer. [Internet]. [cited 2023]. Web.