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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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Causes and effects

What causes metastatic bone disease?

The underlying cause of metastatic bone disease is the spread of cancer from another organ or another type of tissue into the bone. The bone is an ideal environment for cancer cells to take hold and grow, because of factors in the circulating blood that allow cancer to adhere to the bone. The sheer amount of blood volume that passes through the bone increases the odds that the bones will be readily exposed to cancer cells traveling in the blood. While people usually think of cancer as being a disease of a particular site, such as the breast or the thyroid, it is actually thought to be a more systemic disease of the body, and can often be found in the blood stream. Cancer patients are given chemotherapy to remove cancer from the blood stream after surgery and radiation therapy have been performed to remove or destroy the original tumor.

What does metastatic bone disease do?

Metastatic bone cancer can weaken or destroy bone tissue. This releases calcium into the blood stream, and also damages the ability of bone marrow to manufacture enough healthy, new blood cells. The affected bones might also fracture easily. The burden of cancer in the body, as well as the indirect effects of cancer in the bone, such as causing high levels of calcium and low blood cell counts, can become so great that the patient’s life is threatened.

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