Chondrosarcoma

Treatment

The treatment options for chondrosarcomas include:

• Surgery: Surgical excision of the tumor is one of the primary treatments for newly diagnosed and recurred chondrosarcoma. The types and complexity of the surgery depend upon the site of the tumor and the amount of tissue affected by the tumor. The type of surgeries for chondrosarcomas include:
• Wide resection: It involves the removal of the abnormal tissues along with the margin of the healthy tissues. It is also known as bloc resection. The intervention is usually used for treating chondrosarcoma of the spine, skull, leg, arm, and pelvis.
• Curettage: It is the procedure of removing the tumor through scrapping. It doesn't involve the removal of any bone. The patients may have a hole in the bone at the site of tumor removal.
• Limb-sparing surgery: It is a surgery that involves removing the tumor with amputation of the limb or the arm. The reconstructive surgery, with skin grafts and bones, is performed after this surgery. The surgery aimed to restore the bone's maximum anatomic characteristics and functional ability.
• Amputations: Oncosurgeon remove the complete arm or limb if the tumor of the bone has extended to the nerves and blood vessels or if the tumor size is too large. Amputation may also be performed if cancer recurs in the same bone after limb-salvage surgery.
• Bone cement: Bone cement, comprising polymethyl methacrylate, is used to fill the hole formed in the bone after curettage. The cement releases heat energy during hardening that kills the remaining cancer cells.
• Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy may not be the treatment of choice in low-grade chondrosarcoma. However, a combination of chemotherapy drugs is used to manage mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, a relatively aggressive and high-grade form of chondrosarcoma.
• Radiation therapy: It is the treatment of choice for patients who cannot undergo surgery. Radiation therapy is also recommended in cases of recurrent chondrosarcoma. Further, the therapy is used after surgery to kill the remaining cancer cells. The conformal proton beam is the preferred radiation source in patients with chondrosarcoma in the spinal bones or at the skull base.
• Cryosurgery: It uses liquid nitrogen to freeze and kill cancer cells. It may be used after the surgery or radiotherapy to destroy the remaining cancer cells. For example, Cryosurgery for chondrosarcomas lowers the risk of cancer recurrence.