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When Cancer Spreads to the Bone: Surgery for Metastatic Bone Disease

Last updated Thursday, August 13, 2009

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Incidence and risk factors

Incidence

Metastatic bone disease is more likely to occur in patients with a history of lung cancer, breast cancer, or prostate cancer. It is less likely to occur from cancers of the gastrointestinal system, such as colon cancer, stomach cancer, or pancreatic cancer. It is equally common in men and in women.

Acquisition

Metastatic bone disease occurs when cancer cells from another area of the body –the breast, the lung, or other organ – travel through the blood stream and attach themselves to bone. There are factors circulating in the blood stream that give cancer cells a predilection for setting up shop in bone. The skeleton is highly vascularized, that is, a lot of blood vessels feed into it. Living bone is not in the dry, unchanging state seen in the skeletons displayed in high school biology classes. Instead it is constantly remodeling itself. Its dynamic nature, with a lot of cell turnover, makes bone susceptible to invasion by cancer cells from elsewhere in the body.

Genetics

enetics plays a role in a person’s risk of developing the original cancer in another part of the body. For example, certain genes put women at risk for breast cancer, some forms of breast cancer run in families, and breast cancer is more likely than some other forms of cancer to spread to the bone. However, metastatic bone cancer doesn’t run in families, and as yet no genes have been discovered that either place people at risk for metastatic bone cancer or protect them from it. Metastatic bone disease is usually a consequence of not being able to completely destroy the original cancer or the result of chemotherapy that failed or that was not fully effective.

Communicability

Metastatic bone cancer is not contagious. It cannot be spread from person to person.

Lifestyle risk factors

Certain behaviors, life factors, and habits can put people at greater risk for the kinds of cancers that might lead to metastatic bone disease, but not at greater risk for metastatic bone disease itself. For example, smokers are more likely to get lung cancer. Women who are obese or childless are at greater risk for breast cancer.

Injury & trauma risk factors

There is no evidence that injury or trauma leads to metastatic bone cancer.

Prevention

The only way to prevent metastatic bone disease is through good control of the cancer that originated elsewhere in the body.

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