Sarcomas

Bone Sarcoma

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Signs and Symptoms

Tumors that develop in the bones are relatively rare, with about 2,500 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States. The most common type of bone tumor is bone sarcoma or osteosarcoma that develops in growing bones. Bone tumors may be benign, which are more common, or cancerous. Both types may grow and compress healthy bone tissue and absorb or replace it with abnormal tissue. Benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body and rarely are life threatening.

Scientists are not sure what causes bone tumors, but they tend to occur more frequently in adolescents and young adults. A small number of bone tumors are due to heredity. For example, children with hereditary retinoblastoma, an uncommon cancer of the eye, are at a higher risk of developing osteosarcoma.

Symptoms of bone or osteosarcoma include:

• Bone pain
• Tenderness, swelling or redness at the site of the bone pain
• A bone fracture after a routine movement, such as throwing a ball

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007