Muscle and bone cancers are ranked among the most serious types of cancer with a wide impact on human health. Bone cancers, especially osteosarcoma, and muscle cancers, like rhabdomyosarcoma, affect the body’s musculoskeletal system and can lead to significant consequences in mobility and quality of life, thus mortality levels. Understanding the causes, health effects, and treatments for these cancers is thus important in managing and improving these outcomes.
Types and Causes of Cancer of Bone and Muscle
Bone cancer starts with the bones. Most of the cancers are categorized as primary and secondary. A primary bone cancer begins directly in the bone tissue. Primary cancers include osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and many others. The secondary cancers of the bones are more common and occur when other cancers from the body, like breast or lung cancer, metastasize to the bones. Muscle cancers include rhabdomyosarcoma and leiomyosarcoma, which develop in the muscular system. Normally, they fall into the category of soft tissue sarcomas that can affect tendons, fat, blood vessels, and nerves.
In some cases, the causes of bone and muscle cancers cannot be identified precisely, though most of it is due to inherited or acquired mutations in their genes. Their risk also increases due to various factors such as exposure to radiation or a history of cancerous diseases within their families, having certain specific genetic syndromes such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome, and rapid bone growth, especially within adolescence. All these reasonings can be attributed to the reasons behind the appearance of this particular cancer—osteosarcoma—at a greater age in this category, namely teenagers.
Health Effects of Bone and Muscle Cancer
The effects of bone and muscle cancers are destructive to the human body. The cancers affect a lot of body systems in addition to causing physical as well as psychological challenges. There is often pain and swelling in the affected area, and it becomes worse with time; at times, it will be so severe that a person may not be in a position to move freely. In the bones, tumors cause weakening of the bone structure, leading to fractures. In the later stages, hypercalcemia can occur with bone cancer, in which too much calcium in the blood causes fatigue, confusion, kidney damage, and digestive issues.
Other forms of muscle cancer can cause extreme pain, dysfunction of the muscles, and immobility. The type of muscle cancer may even limit a person’s mobility because of its location since it may restrict the range of flexibility. Moreover, because of their rapid growth, sarcomas invade the surrounding tissues and organs easily, hence destroying their functions. Muscle and bone cancers cause the body’s inflammatory response to weight loss, fatigue, and anorexia.
Psychologically, the outcome of these cancers for their patients is profound. Some may suffer from chronic pains, physical incapacitation, and the psychological stress of harboring a severe illness, while others may be depressed. The patient suffering from muscular and bone cancer often needs counseling and support to handle these psychological problems that go along with the physical symptoms.
Medical Diagnosis of muscle and bone cancer
Muscle and bone cancer are usually diagnosed with a combination of imaging tests, biopsies, and laboratory evaluations. Tumor size, location, and spread are measured through the use of X-rays, MRIs, and CT scans. PET scans and bone scans are also common in determining whether cancer has metastasized to other parts of the body. A biopsy may be done by removing a part of the tumor sample taken and examined under the microscope to confirm the diagnosis of the type of cancer to be used for treatment planning.
Those with a family history of cancer or diagnosed with a specific genetic syndrome can be screened with genetic testing. The detection of mutations in the muscles or bones can provide an insight into someone’s risk and lead to preventative or targeted therapies.
Treatment
The treatment of muscle and bone cancers mainly depends on the characteristics of the cancer, such as the stage and the health status of the patient. The common techniques include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy.
Surgery:
Both muscle and bone cancer treatments usually involve surgery, and their localized tumors are surgically treated. The surgeons would try to remove the complete tumor by taking a part of healthy surrounding tissue so that its recurrence is impossible. In critical cases, amputation sometimes becomes necessary because the tumor size is huge and has enmeshed some big blood vessels and nerves.
Radiation Therapy:
High-energy rays kill the cancer cells by attacking and destroying them. In some instances, radiation is applied as a preoperative measure in an attempt to reduce tumors in size, thereby making surgery more feasible, or following surgery to eradicate remaining malignant cells. Radiation therapy is also used for patients inoperable due to tumor extent. It controls tumor growth and alleviates symptoms.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is a treatment that kills the rapidly multiplying cancerous cells by using chemicals. It is commonly carried out in the case of treating osteosarcoma or some soft tissue sarcoma. Chemotherapy works but still has side effects like bringing about nausea, hair falling, and higher susceptibility towards infections as chemotherapy affects a lot of healthy cells along with the cancerous ones.
Targeted Therapy-
Targeted therapy involves drugs that target genetic mutations directly in cancer cells. These are less toxic to normal cells compared to the traditional chemotherapy, and therefore, the drugs will be less toxic. Therefore, targeted therapy is increasingly being used in all cancers where specific molecular targets are identified and a better approach to more personalized care is available.
Immunotherapy
It is the newly found treatment technique wherein the body’s immunity will be provoked to act against the cancerous cells. There is still an open research topic regarding this new treatment with cancers involving bones and muscles, which gives immunotherapy a bright side for use in the future due to promising effects on other cancers.
Conclusion
The muscle and bone cancers become a problem for the patient, both physically and psychologically. These cancers are generally devastating since they affect mobility and quality of life, and if not appropriately treated, they become a threat to life.
Progress in imaging and genetic testing has enhanced patient outcomes, together with the introduction of targeted therapy. However, early diagnosis is still the only way forward. More research is thus essential to increase the efficacy of treatment and reduce the invasiveness of interventions.
Care should thus encompass both medical treatment and psychological care in outcomes improvement and support patients while they face great challenges from muscle and bone cancer.
