How Do I Recognize the Symptoms of Bone Cancer?

Bone joint pain, bone mass, and dyskinesia are considered to be the three major symptoms of bone tumors, especially bone cancer. However, many bone cancers do not have typical clinical symptoms in the early stages, and the clinical manifestations of bone tumors are not specific in many cases. of. The symptoms of early bone tumors are sometimes not obvious. They often pay attention when they develop to a certain degree, local swelling or pain or tenderness, and they are not diagnosed until a pathological fracture occurs.

Early bone cancer

Overview of early bone cancer

Early symptoms of early bone cancer

1. A harder lump will appear on the surface of the bone, with some pain and some without pain;

2, there will be pain and swelling of the bones and adjacent joints, often exacerbated at night, the severity of the pain has nothing to do with the activity, the nature of the pain is diverse, it can be dull pain, tingling, stretch pain, etc

3.The body will have fever, weight loss, fatigue, fatigue, and mental fatigue;

4, some patients will have persistent back pain, the cause of back pain is difficult to explain;

5. There will be numbness in the distal limbs, mostly caused by tumor compression on nerves;

6, prone to pathological fractures or deformation, patients often have one or more fractures without obvious incentives, often because of this.

7. Spontaneous fractures are also common early symptoms of bone cancer.

8. When middle-aged and elderly people have unexplained limb pain, low back pain, and there is a tendency to progress, they should be alert to the possibility of metastatic bone tumors.

Clinical manifestations of early bone cancer

Incidence is based on the nature of bone tumors, and it is also related to age, location, and gender. Although there may be no special clinical manifestations, the history, symptoms and signs are still significant. The onset of bone tumors may also be related to injury, and the time, location and extent of their occurrence should be understood. Other malignant tumors such as osteomyelitis, syphilis, and other organs should also be distinguished to avoid confusion. ^[1]

1) Pain is not the main symptom of bone tumors, but it has diagnostic value for some bone tumors. Osteoid osteoma, for example, is characterized by pain and is persistent. Salicylic acid has analgesic effect. Giant cell tumors of bone are generally less painful, or rheumatoid arthritis, or even pathological fractures have been discovered. Tumors in the spine or pelvis, such as pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots, cause radiation pain. The pain of malignant bone tumors appeared first, with mild pain at first, and rapidly progressing to persistent severe pain.

2) Swelling generally occurs after pain occurs, and the tumor is more obvious under the periosteum or superficial. Deep in the early morning, the disease progressed to late stages and was not found to be swollen. Benign tumors are malignant and can suddenly increase.

3) Dysfunction Due to pain, muscle atrophy, or near joint tumors, joint dysfunction can be caused and movement is limited.

4) Malformation Due to the presence of tumors, it can cause developmental asymmetry, or the pressure on the palate can cause malformations.

5) Compression symptoms can cause different compression symptoms depending on the location. If the tumor is in the pneumonia department, it can cause thoracic outlet syndrome; paraplegia can occur in the spine; pelvic compression can occur in the bladder; bursitis can occur near the joints.

6) Pathological fractures are prone to pathological fractures due to the presence of tumors and their damaging effects. If a giant cell tumor is asymptomatic, a pathological fracture is often discovered.

Early bone cancer signs

1) systemic symptoms

Bone tumors can occur at any age, but within a specific age, there is a tendency to develop certain tumors. For example, infants are susceptible to neuroblastoma involving bones. Juvenile tumors are common in adults. Giant cell tumors and osteosarcomas are found in adults. Myeloma and metastatic tumors are found in elderly.

Early bone tumors have few systemic symptoms, and if there is pain later, it can affect appetite, weight loss, and anemia. Malignancies become ulcers that can stop infections and lead to malignant constitution. Those who grow rapidly, such as Ewing's tumor, can be accompanied by fever and increased white blood cell count, like osteomyelitis.

Due to the nature of the tumor, systemic symptoms are also affected. Osteochondroma, myeloma, and metastases are often multiple; hemangiomas and neurofibromas are subcutaneous or superficial; multiple osteofibroblasts (Albnghl-syndrome) and neurofibromatosis (VonRecklinghausen disease) have endocrine Department of disease symptoms.

2) local performance

(1) Most benign dermal tumors have no obvious skin changes and no adhesions. After growing up quickly, the skin can be compressed, the texture is shiny, and there may be pigment changes. Malignant tumors have locally pale skin, become pincers, hyperemia, increased temperature, and adhesions.

(2) Pay attention to the depth, size, hardness, contour, surface condition, mobility, skin temperature, tenderness and rotation of the mass. It should not be squeezed hard to avoid promoting transfer. Benign tumors are generally hard, with well-defined edges, mild tenderness, and can be nodular. Malignant tumors have a hard rubbery sensation, marked tenderness, unclear edges, and a sense of rotation.

(3) Malformations can cause malformations due to factors such as growth age, location, and tumor properties. Such as multiple chondroma, which affects growth, can be bent limbs, unequal length. Endogenous chondroma can deform the small bones of the hands and feet due to swelling. Tumor invasion and palate can also cause developmental abnormalities.

Differential diagnosis of early bone cancer

diagnosis

The diagnosis of bone tumors is relatively easy, and a preliminary diagnosis can be made based on clinical examination alone, such as superficial osteoma or osteochondroma. Some have characteristics on x-rays, which can be seen according to typical x-rays. Make a preliminary impression such as sclerosing osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, etc .; some must be combined with clinical, x-ray and pathological analysis to make a correct diagnosis. Therefore, clinical, x-ray, and pathology are considered to be three important steps in the diagnosis of bone tumors, sometimes indispensable. In particular, before considering the use of limb removal surgery, it is generally necessary to pass the above three aspects to confirm the diagnosis before making a decision.

Identify

In differential diagnosis, the disease should first be distinguished from inflammation. The main points of identification are the following four aspects:

(1) Systemic reactions: Patients with acute inflammation often have elevated body temperature, increased white blood cell counts, patients with benign bone tumors have normal body temperature, and normal blood signs. Patients with certain malignant bone tumors, such as undifferentiated reticulosarcoma or rapidly growing malignancies, also show elevated body temperature and increased white blood cell counts. In patients with acute, chronic inflammation and bone tuberculosis, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate increases, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate in benign bone tumors is more normal, and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate in patients with malignant bone tumors often increases.

(II) Development process: The inflammation gradually subsides after it has developed to a certain degree or after anti-inflammatory treatment. Some benign bone tumors can stop developing after they have developed to a certain degree. Malignant bone tumors continue to develop and destroy, and they stop or disappear on their own. Extremely rare.

(3) Local palpation: inflammation often produces abscesses, which are generally soft and have obvious fluctuations. Bone tumors are generally hard or tough, with a solid feel when touched, the border is clear, and the bottom of the tomb is mostly adhered to the bone and cannot move. However, some malignant tumors with abundant blood vessels or bleeding may also feel fluctuating.

(4) Puncture; Abscess puncture can aspirate pus, and pus culture or smear staining can sometimes detect pyogenic bacteria. Tumor puncture can only aspirate blood, and puncture with thick needles can sometimes aspirate tumor tissue fragments.

Benign bone tumors should also be diagnosed with malignant bone tumors, as their prognosis and treatment methods are different. The main points of identification are the following four aspects:

(I) Systemic reactions: In addition to benign bone tumors and malignant bone tumors, except for differences in body temperature, hemogram, and erythrocyte sedimentation, the former patients are generally better and less painful, while the latter patients are significantly thinner, anemia, and pain, and more obvious in the later stages Cachexia.

(2) Speed of development; benign bone tumors generally develop slowly, and some of them stop developing at a certain age. Malignant tumors developed rapidly, and even formed huge masses, and the surface veins were swollen.

(C) the presence or absence of metastasis: Benign bone tumors generally do not metastasize, and primary malignant bone tumors are more prone to visceral and other bone metastases.

(4) X-ray findings: The boundaries of benign bone tumors are more clear, there is often a clear line of demarcation from normal bone, and there is generally no periosteal reaction. If there is a response, the new bone of the periosteal is more regular and neat. For malignant osteoma, the boundary is unclear, the boundary between normal bone and bone is not clear, the periosteum reaction is disordered, and even the sun is radial.