What should you know about primary osteosarcoma?

Primary osteosarcoma is a bone cancer that begins in bone and requires specialist assessment and coordinated treatment. Primary osteosarcoma is a malignant bone tumour that begins in bone. It most often needs care from a specialist team involving imaging, biopsy, surgery and drug treatment.

It can develop in a limb or another bone and may cause persistent pain, swelling, tenderness or reduced movement. A fracture through weakened bone can sometimes be the first sign. These symptoms can also arise from injury or other bone conditions, so they do not by themselves establish cancer.

Assessment usually maps the tumour with imaging and confirms its nature with a biopsy. The team also checks whether disease is limited to the original bone or has spread, because that information affects the sequence and extent of treatment.

Ask for referral to a sarcoma or bone-cancer service before a biopsy or operation is planned, because the procedure needs careful positioning. Treatment often combines chemotherapy with tumour removal surgery. Surgery aims to remove the tumour with a safe margin while preserving useful function when possible. Rehabilitation may support strength, movement and adjustment after treatment.

Seek urgent medical help for sudden severe bone pain, a new inability to use an arm or leg, visible deformity, numbness or loss of bladder or bowel control. During treatment, promptly report fever, uncontrolled vomiting, severe pain, wound redness or drainage, or new breathing difficulty.

Where is the tumour and has it spread? Which biopsy approach is planned? How will chemotherapy and tumour removal surgery be sequenced? What function may be affected? What rehabilitation and urgent contact arrangements will I have?