Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology Program
Osteosarcoma
What Is Osteosarcoma? | Risk Factors | Symptoms and Diagnosing | Stages | Treatment | About Clinical Trials | Greenebaum Cancer Center
Symptoms and Diagnosis
If a patient has symptoms of osteosarcoma (such as pain and swelling of a bone or a bone region), a doctor may order X-rays and blood tests. If the doctor suspects the problem is osteosarcoma, he or she may recommend seeing a specialist called an orthopaedic oncologist.
The orthopaedic oncologist may cut out a piece of tissue from the affected area (biopsy). This procedure may be done in the hospital. The tissue will be examined at under a microscope to see if it contains any cancer cells.
The chance of recovery (prognosis) and choice of treatment for osteosarcoma depend on a variety of factors. These include:
- size
- location
- type
- stage of the cancer (how far the cancer has spread)
- how long the patient has had symptoms
- how much of the cancer is removed by surgery and/or killed by chemotherapy
- the patient’s age
- blood other test results
- general health
This page was last updated on: March 4, 2008.
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