A sarcoma (say: sor-KOH-muh) is a cancer that starts in bone or soft tissue. Osteogenic sarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer in children. It happens most often in the arms and legs but can affect other bones too. Treatment can help most kids who have osteogenic sarcoma.
What are the symptoms of osteogenic sarcoma?
Most people with osteogenic sarcoma have pain in the bone, especially when they move. This pain may be worse after exercise or at night. Symptoms also include swelling in the area of the tumor, and a lump or swelling in the bone. The lump is not always visible, but your child’s doctor may find it by pressing on the area. This helps them know if the lump is a tumor and not just part of your child’s normal growth.
Sometimes the cancer spreads from where it started in the bone to other parts of the body, such as the lungs. If this happens, your child will need treatment for both the cancer in the bone and the spread to other organs. Your child’s doctor will check for this by doing tests that look for cancer cells in the lungs and other parts of the body. These tests are called staging.
When a child has osteogenic sarcoma, doctors will often use chemotherapy and surgery to treat it. This includes drugs that make the cancer cells shrink and kill them. Then doctors will use surgery to remove the tumor and replace it with a new bone, if needed. Most children with osteogenic sarcoma can be treated using a procedure called limb-sparing surgery.
This surgery is done under anesthesia. Doctors remove the tumor and a small amount of healthy tissue around it. They then replace the tumor with a new piece of bone from another part of the body or an artificial one. This can restore the function and appearance of your child’s arm or leg. The surgery is very complex. CHOP surgeons are experts in this procedure.
The surgery is followed by chemotherapy to destroy any remaining cancer cells. After surgery, your child will need to have follow-up CT scans and X-rays, and other lab tests, to see if the cancer is gone and has not returned.
There are several types of bone cancers, and each type has different treatments. Your child’s doctor will decide which is best for your child based on the type of osteogenic sarcoma they have and other factors.
Survival rates depend on the stage of the cancer, how well the treatment plan works, and your child’s age and general health. Relative survival rates can help you understand how much your child’s chance of recovery depends on how well the treatment works. The overall survival rate for osteogenic sarcoma is 64%. This means that 64% of kids with this cancer survive for at least a year after being diagnosed and treated. This is higher than other types of bone cancer but lower than some other kinds of cancer.
