What exactly is osteosarcoma

Many people want to know what osteosarcoma is, because they may have heard of or met someone with osteosarcoma around them, but they are not very familiar with this disease, so there are big misunderstandings about osteosarcoma. In fact, osteosarcoma is more common in young people. The following content is a key introduction to osteosarcoma.

Chondrosarcoma is one of the common malignant bone tumors. Those that occur in the medullary cavity are central type, those that occur in the periosteum are periosteal type, and a few can occur in soft tissue. Tumors often occur in the long bones of the limbs and pelvis, and can also be seen in the vertebrae, sacrum, clavicle, scapula and foot bones. This disease is divided into primary and secondary types. The latter can be caused by the malignant transformation of chondroma and osteochondroma, which is also one of the reasons for the later age of onset. This disease is more common in adults, rarely under 30 years old, and the incidence gradually increases after 35 years old. It is more common in men than in women.

Central chondrosarcoma is a chondrosarcoma that originates from the bone. It ranks fourth among primary malignant bone tumors, after plasmacytoma, osteosarcoma, and Ewing's sarcoma. It is more common in men, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.5 to 2:1. It is more common between the ages of 30 and 70, mainly in adults, rarely before the age of 20, and rarely before puberty.

There are obvious sites of predilection, in order, the femur (especially the proximal end), pelvis, proximal humerus, scapula, and proximal tibia. Less common sites include other bones of the trunk, radius, ulna, feet, and hands (chondromas are common in hands, and rarely in trunk bones). Central chondrosarcomas in long bones usually originate from one end of the shaft or the epiphysis. Since patients are generally adults whose growth cartilage has disappeared, the tumor often invades the epiphysis and sometimes the joints. Central chondrosarcomas originating from the middle of the shaft are rare. At the time of diagnosis, the tumor may have invaded 1/3, 1/2, or more of the entire long bone. Central chondrosarcomas in the pelvis are prone to occur in the area around the acetabulum (ilium, ischium, or pubis); Central chondrosarcomas in the scapula are prone to occur in the coracoid process-glenoid region. Central chondrosarcomas in the pelvis and scapula can also invade most of the bone.

In fact, some patients have mild and slowly developing symptoms and a long medical history. Sometimes they present with a "chondroma-like" tumor that recurs after local surgery. The main symptom is deep pain, which is not severe and non-persistent. Because the tumor has not yet expanded into the soft tissue, the extra-bony mass is often not palpable, and there is only slight bone enlargement. In the advanced stage of the tumor, a large spherical extra-bony mass may form.