Bone Metastasis develops in patients suffering from some kind of cancer, and when such cancer spreads from the primary tumor to other organs of the body, especially the bones.

The bone is the most common secondary site for Bone Metastasis, and is caused by different types of cancers like prostate, kidney, breasts, lungs, and thyroid. Read on to learn more about the causes, bone damage, and treatments for Bone Metastasis.

Causes ofBone Metastasis in human beings

Bone Metastasis is primarily caused when the cancer cells from the primary tumor spreads to the bones, and causes them to weaken and damage completely over prolonged period of time. The cancerous cells break away from the primary tumor originating at the breast, kidney, lungs, prostate, and other organs, and travel to the bones and other organs through the lymph vessels or the bloodstream. Travelling through the bloodstream, the cancer cells develops a secondary tumor, the Bone Metastasis, in the bone, especially the pelvis, spinal cord, limbs, rib cage, and skull areas. The patient suffering from this disease experiences severe ache with constant breakouts of sharp staggering pain in the affected area. This may be caused due to the increased acid accumulation in the blood, tissues or the urine that makes the bones to generate a pain response to the brain, causing a chronic dull pain in the patients. Moreover, uncontrolled regulation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts in the patients causes malformation of the bones, which is also considered as a primary cause of the pain in Bone Metastasis.

Bone Damage in Bone Metastasis

Bone Metastasis can sometimes cause a complete destruction of the bone in a particular affected area. This process is medically termed as the osteolytic bone destruction, and is most common in cases where the primary cancer cells have spread to the bones from other organs like kidney, lung, colon and thyroid. In some cancer cases like prostate, stomach or bladder, a new bone develops in response to the cancer spread to that area. This osteoblastic process in Bone Metastasis causes the new bone to grow abnormally, thereby deforming and weakening it over a period of time. Some breast cancer cases causes bone damage in a combination of the osteoblastic and osteolytic process. The bone damage is caused in two ways. The tumor may wear away small bits of the bone, thereby causing small holes which weaken the bone to break off easily. In other cases, the tumor stimulates the bone to form and grow abnormally; making it fragile and unstable that may collapse anytime in the patients suffering from Bone Metastasis.

Bone Metastasis Treatment

Bone Metastasis can be medically treated in a combination of some traditional procedures like chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Bisphosphonate is considered as an effective treatment in Bone Metastasis, which significantly reduces bone destruction, metastatic pain, and growth of the secondary tumor. The Pain Management campaign by the World Health Organization has designed cancer-associated treatments in combination of corticosteroids, Bisphosphonate, radionucleotides, and radiotherapy, for managing the acute pain in Bone Metastasis.