Side Effects Of Radiation For Secondary Bone Cancer

In fact noncancerous bone tumors are much more common than cancerous ones.

Side effects of radiation for secondary bone cancer.

It involves taking the bone with cancer out of the body treating it with radiation and then putting it back in. Side effects can happen any time during immediately after or a few days or weeks after radiation therapy. Bone cancer can begin in any bone in the body but it most commonly affects the pelvis or the long bones in the arms and legs. Some side effects might show up quickly but others might not show up until 1 to 2 years after treatment.

Secondary cancers are cancers that have spread from another part of the body. Most side effects generally go away within a few weeks to 2 months of finishing treatment. Learn more about possible side effects. Side effects depend on where the radiation is aimed.

Depending on your situation radiation to the bone can be administered in one large dose or several smaller doses over many days. People with brain tumors often get stereotactic radiosurgery radiation given in one large dose if the cancer is in only one or a few sites in the brain. Radiation therapy has long been used to shrink metastatic bone tumors to help relieve this pain but no consensus has been reached about the optimal dose of such palliative radiation and whether it should be delivered in a single dose or in multiple treatments. Side effects of radiation depend on the site being treated and its size.

Other side effects depend on the part of the body that is being treated. Many people who get radiation therapy experience fatigue. Radiation therapy has side effects because it not only kills or slows the growth of cancer cells it can also affect nearby healthy cells. Surgical procedures can help stabilize a bone that is at risk of breaking or repair a broken bone.

Secondary cancer in the bone. Side effects linked to this include wound healing problems loss of joint movement change in limb length and fractures breaks in the treated piece of bone. Risk decreases as the age at the time of radiation increases. Surgery to stabilize the bone.

Your age when you get radiation treatment has a similar effect on the development of other solid tumors including lung cancer thyroid cancer bone sarcoma and gastrointestinal or related cancers. Bone cancer is rare making up less than 1 percent of all cancers. Side effects of radiation therapy depend on what area of. Women who had radiation after the age of 40 have a lower risk of breast cancer.

Radiotherapy can help relieve pain from secondary cancer in the bone. The internet journal of pain symptom control and palliative. This can make them more likely to fracture if you have a fall.