Osteosarcoma News and Research

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Between two and three percent of all childhood cancers are osteosarcoma. Because osteosarcoma usually develops from osteoblasts, it most commonly affects children and young adults experiencing their adolescent growth spurt. Boys and girls have a similar incidence rate until later in their adolescence, when boys are more commonly affected. While most tumors occur in larger bones, such as the femur, tibia, and humerus, and in the area of the bone that has the fastest growth rate, they can occur in any bone. The most common symptom is pain, but swelling and limited movement can occur as the tumor grows.

Osteosarcoma is an orphan disease with approximately 1,200 new cases diagnosed in the United States each year. A similar incidence of the disease exists in Europe. According to the Children's Oncology Group (COG), the survival of children with osteosarcoma has remained at 60-65 percent since the mid-1980s. The standard treatment for osteosarcoma is tumor resection with combination chemotherapy before and after surgery.

New type of inhalation chemotherapy

Pediatric cancer specialists at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) are investigating a new type of inhalation chemotherapy with the potential to treat children with a deadly bone cancer that has spread to their lungs.

26 May 2005

Nuclear reactor as a cancer cure

Despite the millions of dollars that have been invested into research to improve methods of treatments for various types of cancer, oncological diseases continue to have a high mortality rate, remaining one of the main causes of death globally. Traditional cancer treatment methods, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy are effective in approximately only half of all patients.

3 Mar 2005

Limb-sparing technique called rotationplasty helps very young children with bone cancer

The current issue of New England Journal of Medicine illustrates a case of a five-year-old girl with Ewing’s sarcoma, a cancerous tumor, behind her left knee. Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia used a limb-sparing technique called rotationplasty to remove the diseased portion of bone, turn the shortened portion of the leg bone in a half-circle and reattach it, with the ankle joint functioning as a knee.

18 Aug 2004

Early patient response to Forteo in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis

Changes in markers of bone remodeling after one month of treatment with FORTEO® (teriparatide [rDNA origin] injection) may provide important early evidence of treatment response, according to new data presented today at the 86th Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society (ENDO).

17 Jun 2004