Cancer Support Group

No one knows the exact causes of bone cancer, and doctors can seldom explain why one person will get bone cancer and another person will not. However, it is clear that this disease is not contagious and no one can catch bone cancer from another person. Unfortunately, bone cancer is one of the many cancers that allow for little room in terms of prevention. This is because most of its risk factors cannot be avoided. Degenerative diseases, which affect old people, as well as hereditary diseases that affect children are often responsible for primary bone cancer.

As these types of causes are unpreventable, prevention becomes almost impossible. There are some measures, such as avoiding high doses of radiation or exposure to industrial chemicals, which become useful in the prevention of many different types of cancer, including primary bone cancer, but for the most part, early detection is the best one can hope for.

Since a special screening test for bone cancer is not recommended, to prevent more life threatening complications associated with the disease, one must rely squarely on early detection of signs and symptoms (which are often vague and associated with other ailments). Because primary bone cancer is a highly treatable disease, these measures can constitute a valid substitute for outright prevention of the disease.

Bone cancer prevention includes avoiding the risk factors and increasing the protective factors that can be controlled. While bone cancer prevention methods do not guarantee that someone will not develop this disease, it does decrease the chances. If you believe you have risk factors for bone cancer, your doctor can suggest additional methods of bone cancer prevention that might be effective for you.