Before getting to know about the treatment for bone marrow cancer, let us have a quick look at what it is all about and what its symptoms are. Bone marrow is nothing but a soft, spongy tissue located in the center of most of the bones. A bone marrow cancer is observed when the cancer develops in the blood forming the cells of the bone marrow. Bone marrow cancer is mostly seen occurring in the shafts of long bones. Though early signs may vary from patient to patient; the initial symptoms may include fatigue, fever, weight loss and poor appetite. On the other hand the early symptoms may also be irregular and less and thus the patient may not see any doctor unless it spreads in your whole body.

If you feel you are having the following symptoms, go and consult your doctor before time runs out of your hand:

• Extreme pain in the affected area
• A hard lump on the bone
• Restriction of movement
• Swelling, tenderness or stiffness in the bone or near a bone joint
• Unnecessary and often occurring fractures
• Weakness, dizziness, shortness of breath
• Anemia (low red blood cells)
• Decrease in resistance to infections

But these symptoms may vary as there are some types of bone marrow cancers listed below.

• Primary Bone Cancer: It is formed in the cells of the bone and has sub types like osteosarcoma, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, Ewing’s sarcoma and chondrosarcoma
• Leukemia: This happens when the bone marrow produces white blood cells in abnormal quantity
• Lymphomas: It starts spreading in lymph nodes more often, but can sometimes also start in bone marrow
• Multiple Myeloma: It is a type of cancer which develops from the plasma cells of the bone marrow

Bone Marrow Cancer Treatment

When you have to choose a certain treatment of line for a disease like bone marrow cancer, there are several factors to look at. Your age, your health factors, the stage of your cancer and how resistant you are to the treatments etc. all are to be considered. After considering all these, the doctor will suggest you the best treatment option suitable for you. Though there are most commonly known treatments for bone marrow cancer including surgery, IMRT (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) and fractioned dose chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are sometimes effective in case of some primary bone cancers. Chemotherapy for bone marrow can be also be given to patients before or after surgery. It is given before surgery to shrink the size of the tumor. It is given after surgery in order to minimize the chances of relapse.

Medication

Bone density and bone loss is a major concern in patients having bone cancer. Bisphosphonates (non-hormonal) increase the strength of your bones and are also available as once in a week prescription pills format. Metastron, also well-known by strontium-89 chloride is an intravenous medication which is prescribed to relieve the pain in three months interval. There are several other medicines for such diseases.

Surgical Treatment

Amputation: Some bone marrow cancer treatments may involve surgeries like limb amputation or limb sparing surgery. It means that the limb is spared from amputation. In case of not doing the amputation surgery, the affected bone can be removed and is done in two ways; the first is bone graft in which, a bone is borrowed from other part of the body, and in the second procedure, an artificial bone or a metal graft is put during the surgery.

Rotationplasty: It is also called van-ness rotation which is a kind of amputation, in which the patient’s foot is turned in the upward direction in a 180 degree turn and the upturned foot is used as a knee.

Here are some types of amputations:

• Leg: below knee, above knee, symes, hip disarticulation, Hemipelvectomy or hindquarter in which the entire leg is removed with one half of the pelvis
• Arm: Above elbow, below elbow, shoulder disarticulation, forequarter in which amputation of the entire arm along with the shoulder blade and the clavicle).

The most essential of amputations is hemicorporectomy (translumbar or waist amputation) which removes the legs, urinary system, the pelvis, excretory system and the genital area (penis/testes in males and vagina/vulva in females). It is done in two stages. Firstly, the colostomy and the urinary conduit, the second is the amputation.

Although there are many treatments for bone marrow cancer, they are not without risks and side effects. When patients undergo surgery, they have chances of having infection and/or the tissue surrounding the resected area is very prone to injury during the surgery. Similarly, when patients undergo chemotherapy treatment, they can have all the side effects that are associated with it. However, a lot of research is being done to treat this type of cancer, which, in most cases, is the result of metastases from other cancer. Before you undergo this treatment, talk about your concerns to your oncologist.