What Causes Bone Cancer?
No one knows the exact causes of bone cancer, and doctors can seldom explain why one person will get bone cancer and another person will not. However, it is clear that this disease is not contagious and no one can "catch" bone cancer from another person. Bone cancer research has shown that people with certain risk factors are more likely than others to develop the condition. A risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of developing a disease. While risk factors do not cause bone cancer, they may act together to increase a person's chances of developing it.
Specific risk factors for bone cancer include:
- Being a child or young adult
- Previous radiation or chemotherapy
- History of Paget's disease
- Family history of bone cancer
- People with hereditary retinoblastoma.
In a few cases, bone cancers may have a hereditary component, such as in:
- Li-Fraumeni syndrome. This condition is characterized by an increased risk of many different cancers, including osteosarcoma, breast cancer, brain cancer and others.
- Rothmund-Thomson syndrome. This condition causes short stature, skeletal problems and rashes, and increases risk of bone cancer.
- Hereditary retinoblastoma. Children with this rare cancer of the eye have an increased risk of osteosarcoma.
- Multiple exostoses. Children with this inherited condition that causes cartilage bumps to form on your bones have an increased risk of chondrosarcoma.
The association with radiation
Radiation is occasionally associated with bone cancer. Exposure to radiation from a diagnostic X-ray won't harm you. But heavy doses of radiation, such as radiation therapy given for other cancers, can increase your risk of developing bone cancer, especially if you receive the therapy at a young age.
Still, radiation therapy is becoming more and more sophisticated, which may lead to fewer of such side effects. For example, doctors today are better able to regulate doses of radiation and more precisely target the tumor being treated.
To know more about Bone Cancer, select from the topics below:
What is Bone Cancer?
Causes of Bone Cancer
Bone Cancer Symptoms
Bone Cancer Tests and diagnosis
Bone Cancer Treatment