Signs & Symptoms
- Bone pain
- This may start as intermittent pain that progressively becomes more persistent
- Wakes from sleep
- Little relief from basic analgesia
- Local tenderness, swelling
- Erythema
- Pathological fracture
- Limp
Malignant bone tumours are diagnosed in about 60 children a year in the UK.
Bone tumours in children can present with a number of symptoms including bone pain - this may come and go initially but then become more persistent, local tenderness, sometimes erythema, swelling or pathological fracture.
Osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma are the most common bone tumour types.
Osteosarcoma
Osteosarcoma arises most often at the end of bones where growth occurs. Normal control of this process is lost and a swelling (tumour) occurs.
Osteosarcoma accounts for just over half of childhood bone tumours, with two thirds of childhood cases occurring in the 10 to 14 year age group.
Five-year survival remains at about 65%.
Ewings Sarcoma
The Ewing’s family of tumours occur mainly of bone, but can occur in soft tissue as well.
Ewings accounts for just over a third of all bone tumours in children.
The overall five year survival rate for Ewing sarcoma of bone is 68%.
For extra-osseous tumours, the survival rate is lower at 58%.
Treatment
Treatment usually relies on chemotherapy and radiotherapy
Often radical surgery is required including either amputation or limb salvage techniques in the hope of achieving remission.