Jammu
7 December 2019
DIVYA AZAD
ORTHOPAEDIC ONCOLOGY is a new sub-speciality of orthopaedics which deals with tumours and tumour like conditions of the bone and soft tissues, including bone metastasis, sarcomas and pathologic fractures. These tumours may be arising from the bone or soft tissues (viz. muscles, nerves, blood vessels, fat etc.) around the bone or they may have spread to the bone from cancers of other organs of the body. Dr. Rajat Gupta Senior Oncologist at Fortis Hospital Mohali said.
Senior Oncologist at Fortis Hospital Mohali With the advent of newer chemotherapy regimes and advanced surgical techniques, cure can be achieved in majority of malignant (Cancerous) bone tumours. Not only that, it is now possible to remove the bone involved by tumour without amputation of the limb (cutting the whole limb), which was the only treatment available 20-30 years back. He told that.
Bone metastasis ( Cancer which had spread to the bone from other organs like breast, prostrate, lung, kidney, thyroid etc.) constitute the most common form of bone malignancy. Metastatic bone disease is no longer a death sentence for the patient condemning him to palliative care and a lot can be done to cure/ control the disease or improve his quality of life. Nowadays, as people with cancer live longer because of better systemic treatment, the incidence of pathological fracture is rising and that needs to be addressed properly under specialized care. While sharing his experience Dr. Gupta said, My first Patient Krishan Lal, 62y male from Jammu, came to us with a large swelling in the shoulder since 7-8 months. He had undergone multiple surgeries elsewhere and was advised amputation as the only treatment to get rid of the cancerous bone at multiple centres elsewhere in Punjab and jammu. He said Since, bone cancer is a rare disease and hence, there is lack of awareness about it not only in the public but also the medical professionals and hence, amputation is the most common procedure advised to these patients, despite the fact that most of these can be cured without amputation with the current surgical techniques. Dr. Gupta that Another patient Babu Singh , 57 y male from Udhampur, came to us with large swelling in the arm since last 1 year or so. Upon investigation, he was found to have Chondrosarcoma of arm bone. It is another kind of bone cancer. He underwent limb saving surgery in Sep 2018 at Fortis Hospital, Mohali and cancerous bone was replaced with artificial implant. With more than one year post surgery, patient is fine and back to his activities of daily routine.
