Bone Metastases and Lung Cancer

	Tweet

Bone metastases are a common complication of lung cancer. Others cancers that metastasize to bone include multiple myeloma, breast, prostate, kidney, and thyroid cancer.

Metastases are cancer cells that have spread from their site of origin to another location in the body. Cancer cells can spread, or metastasize, through the blood and lymph systems. A cancer cell may break away from the original location in the body and travel in one of these systems until it gets lodged in a small vessel in another area of the body. Once there, the cell grows and divides, thereby establishing cancer in that new tissue. 

Metastases are not new or different cancers; the cancer cells in the new location are the same as the original cancer, only in a different location.

Bone is one of the most common locations in the body to which cancer metastasizes. Bone metastases usually occur by way of the blood stream. Cancer may also spread to bone by erosion from the adjacent cancer, though this occurs less frequently than spread by the blood stream.

Bone metastases result in lesions, or injury to the bone tissue. There are two types of lesions: lytic lesions, which destroy bone material, and blastic lesions, which fill up bone with extra cells. Normal bone is constantly being remodeled, or broken down and rebuilt. Cancer cells that have spread to the bone disrupt the balance between the activity of osteoclasts (cells that break down bone) and osteoblasts (cells that build bone).

The damage caused by bone metastases may make the bone more susceptible to complications such as pain or fractures. Another more serious complication of bone metastases is the risk of hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia is an increased level of calcium in the blood and can be a medical emergency.

Bone metastases generally occur in the central parts of the skeleton, although they may be found anywhere in the skeletal system. Common sites for bone metastases are the back, pelvis, upper leg, ribs, upper arm, and skull. More than 90% of all metastases are found in these locations.

RELATED STORIES:
Targeted cancer drug fails to help patients - study   Virus not linked to type of lung cancer   Sun, vitamin D help lung cancer survival - study   CT for lung cancer may do more harm than good   What Is Lung Cancer?   How Is Lung Cancer Treated?   Smokers’ lung cancer risk identified in CT screening study   Lung cancer no longer just a man’s disease   FDA clears Genentech’s Tarceva for lung cancer   Lung cancer drug helps majority in study   Spontaneous smoking cessation may be an early symptom of lung cancer, research suggests   New Drug for Advanced Lung Cancer

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]