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Medical Edge Newspaper Column from Mayo Clinic
HOW CAN MY MOTHER HAVE CANCER OF THE RIBS?
DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My mother of 84 has been told she has “cancer of the ribs.” Sorry if I sound ignorant, but how could someone contract cancer in the ribs, of all places, unless it moved there from another part of the body — such as the lymph nodes? We do not understand what’s going on because the doctors are using too many technical terms. Can you please explain things to us in simple language? — Ohio
ANSWER: Bone cancers involving the ribs can mainly be separated into two major categories, primary and secondary. Primary bone cancer arises in a rib, while secondary — sometimes referred to as metastatic cancer — arises in other tissues and spreads to the rib.
Generally, secondary bone cancer is much more common than primary, especially in your mother’s age group. When primary bone cancer occurs, it tends to affect children and young adults. Only a few primary tumors can arise from the ribs in older patients, and most are very uncommon.
Although the list of tumors that can result in secondary bone cancer is very long, the majority of cases come from primary cancers involving the breast, lung, kidney, prostate, ovary, thyroid, pancreas, stomach or colon. A tumor can spread to the ribs in several ways. One is through direct spread, such as lung cancer that moves into a nearby rib. Another way is through the bloodstream: Small tumor cells enter the blood and travel to the ribs and grow. And a third way is through the lymphatic system, which drains fluid from the body’s tissues: Tumor cells typically end up in the lymph nodes, where they can spread to other tissues, such as the bone.
The treatment for rib cancer depends on whether the tumor is primary or secondary and, if secondary, on the type of original tumor. In some cases, the affected ribs can be removed surgically, while in others radiation therapy or chemotherapy may be a better option. In secondary cases, long-term success depends on treatment of the rib cancer and the primary cancer.
One malignant bone condition does not fit neatly into either the primary or secondary classifications. This is multiple myeloma — a tumor of plasma cells that can be found in the bloodstream (where it is secondary) or in the marrow inside bones (where it is primary). Multiple myeloma typically affects older individuals, but rarely manifests itself in the ribs without involving other bones.
— Jeffrey J. Peterson, M.D., Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla.
Additional Resources:
Bone Cancer
Appointment Information
More Information on Bone Cancer
READERS: Pain from cancer that has spread to the bone can be effectively diminished with a new treatment that freezes the cancerous areas, according to Mayo Clinic research.
The treatment can provide a higher quality of life to patients whose activities are greatly limited because of the debilitating pain, says Matthew Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., a radiologist and the chief author of the abstract.
Approximately 100,000 people develop cancer that spreads to the bone (metastasis) in the United States each year. This cancer often causes severe pain that is unrelieved by narcotics and other standard pain treatments. The new minimally invasive technique, cryoablation, uses extreme cold to freeze the tumor.
“For the many patients who have metastatic disease, radiation therapy and other therapies may fail over time or do not work at all,” says Dr. Callstrom. “You can reduce the pain for patients with narcotics, but that often means they’re sleeping through much of the day and get through the day from narcotic dose to narcotic dose. This has a significant impact on their quality of life.”
Dr. Callstrom says cryoablation doesn’t cure the disease, but gives patients a higher quality of life. “In the time they have, they come back and join the family,” he says.
Additional Information:
Cryoablation
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