Bone tumors can be localized relatively easily (in the damaged area), but their treatment must be adapted to the type of severity they present. At present, there are two main groups of bone tumors: those that arise in the bone (benign or malignant, depending on their tendency to progress or stabilize) and those that originate in other organs and spread to the bone (so-called bone metastases).
Benign bone tumors are treated surgically by removal. In some cases, no intervention is performed and periodic check-ups are simply carried out to document that the tumor remains stable and does not grow. However, malignant bone tumors and metastases must be treated by a coordinated team of specialists: the oncologist, the radiotherapist, the pain specialist and, logically, the orthopedic surgeon.
In general, it could be said that primitive bone tumors affect mostly children, adolescents and young adults; while metastases affect older people over 40-50 years of age, whose cases first require the presence of a cancer or malignant tumor in some other organ of the body.
The cause of these tumors is the massive and disorganized growth of cells. Therefore, knowing the causes of such growth can help us to detect the problem. Today, we have come a long way in identifying the origin of the tumor and can determine the role of toxins, genetic alterations, viruses and other factors, but there is still a long way to go.
Detection
The first cause of detection of a bone tumor is localized pain in the affected area. It can also be identified by palpating the tumor, especially in the extremities (in areas such as the spine or pelvis it is more complicated). In addition, a high number of tumors are detected by routine radiological analysis, especially in patients with cancer who undergo exhaustive check-ups precisely to find out if they have metastases or progression of the cancer to other organs.