Dr. Beauchamp recalls the available treatments for bone tumors.
Dr. Beauchamp:
It really depends; the treatments really depend on what kind of tumor it is. There are probably dozens of different types of bone tumors, some of which are simply treated by simple removal without having to do anything to rebuild or reconstruct the skeleton.
Some tumors are removed by scraping them out of the inside of the bone and then reconstructing the cavity that we create, all the way to the extreme where we need to remove half the knee joint or part of the hip joint or even part of the pelvis, and then we have to reconstruct the defect that we have created. And some tumors are treated with, not only surgery, but with drug treatments, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, again, depending upon what kind of tumor it is.
About Dr. Beauchamp, M.D.:
Dr. Christopher P. Beauchamp, M.D., is an orthopedic surgery and Associate Professor of Orthopedics at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. He focuses specifically on musculoskeletal oncology, adult reconstructive orthopedics, bone and soft tissue sarcomas, and infected, failed joint arthroplasty.
Visit Dr. Beauchamp at the Mayo Clinic