Osteosarcoma is a common type of bone cancer usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Osteosarcoma develops from an abnormality in the cells involved in growing bone and commonly affects teenage boys or girls who are experiencing a growth spurt. With proper diagnosis and treatment, most kids with osteosarcoma do recover without losing a limb.
Common symptoms of osteosarcoma are pain and swelling in a child’s arm or leg. It occurs most often in the longer bones such as the femur, tibia, fibula or humerus. Pain due to osteosarcoma may be worse during exercise or at night. Bone pain that persistently wakes a child up at night should be evaluated.
If osteosarcoma is diagnosed in the early stages of the disease it can be treated with chemotherapy, followed by surgery to remove the tumor and then additional chemotherapy treatments to destroy any remaining cancer cells. Unfortunately, if there was a delay in diagnosing the cancer and it has already spread to the nerves and blood vessels surrounding the original bone mass, amputation may be the only option to remove all of the cancer cells.
If you think there was a delay in diagnosing your child’s osteosarcoma or bone cancer you may want to contact experienced medical malpractice lawyers such as those at Kline & Specter – a Philadelphia law firm successful in failure to diagnose cancer cases for a free consultation and additional information.
