Sarcoma: Types, Symptoms & Ayurvedic Treatment Guide

What is Bone Sarcoma?

It is the primary type of sarcoma that develops in the bone. 1/ 3^rd of the cases of bone sarcoma occur in people that are younger than 35 years old. Most bone sarcoma is diagnosed in children.

Types of the bone sarcoma are as follows:

1. Osteosarcoma
2. Chondrosarcoma
3. Chordoma
4. Ewing’s sarcoma
5. Fibrosarcoma 

What is Osteosarcoma?

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone sarcoma that develops in the cells where the new bone tissues are formed. Osteosarcoma can occur in any bone, but it usually starts in the large bones such as legs and arms. Osteosarcoma is commonly diagnosed in teenagers and children.

Most Affected areas by osteosarcoma are:

• Upper arm bone (humerus) near your shoulder
• The thigh bone (femur) near your knee
• Shinbone (tibia) near your knee
• Organs and soft tissues in the chest and abdomen, but are affected rarely.

Types of Osteosarcomas

There are nine types of high-grade osteosarcoma:

• Fibroblastic osteosarcoma
• Pagetoid osteosarcoma
• Osteoblastic osteosarcoma
• Chondroblastic osteosarcoma
• Small cell osteosarcoma
• Post-radiation osteosarcoma High-grade surface (juxtacortical high-grade) osteosarcoma
• Telangiectatic osteosarcoma
• High-grade surface (juxtacortical high-grade) osteosarcoma
• Extraskeletal osteosarcoma

There is one type of mediate-grade osteosarcoma:

• Periosteal (juxtacortical immediate grade)

There are two types of low-grade osteosarcoma:

• Paro steal (juxtacortical low grade).
• Intramedullary or intraosseous well-differentiated (low-grade central).

Causes of Osteosarcoma

• Exposure to radiation
• Rapid bone growth
• Bone infarction
• Genetic factors

Symptoms of Osteosarcoma

• Redness and swelling at the site of the tumor.
• Limited movement of the joints
• Mass or lump that is warm.
• Bone tenderness and pain
• Unexplained fever
• The pain increased with lifting weights.
• Bone may break with the simple movement.

What is Chondrosarcoma?

Movements between the bones and joint occur due to soft connective tissue i.e., known as cartilage and the sarcoma that starts in this cartilage is known as chondrosarcoma. Chondrosarcoma occurs more frequently in adults than in younger people and the main parts affected by this sarcoma are the pelvis bone, leg, and arms. Rarely this sarcoma can occur in the spine bone. 

Symptoms of Chondrosarcoma

• Area of swelling and growing lump in the affected region
• Increased pain 
• Weakness
• Bladder control problem
• Bowel control problem

What is Chordoma?

This type of sarcoma mainly affects older adults. Only 5 % of children are affected by this type of sarcoma. Chordoma is a rare type of sarcoma that mainly affects the base of the skull or the base of the spine. Chordoma has various subtypes, and all the subtypes are cancerous i.e., malignant. Approximately 35 % of Chordoma occurs in the base of the spine mainly in the sacrum and 35 % occurs where the spine meets the skull this type of chordoma is also known as clivus chordoma because the clivus bone is mainly involved in it. 30 % of the chordoma occurs in the mobile spine mainly in the second cervical vertebrae. It also affects the lumbar and thoracic spine. In advanced stages, chordoma spreads to nearby lymph nodes, skin, lungs, and other bones.

Types of Chordoma

1. Conventional or classic chordoma: Classic chordoma is 80- 90 % of all the Chordoma cases that occur throughout the world. In this type of chordoma, the cells that are involved look bubbly in appearance. This type of chordoma affects mainly the base of the skull.
2. Dedifferentiated chordoma: This type of chordoma is faster and more aggressive than conventional chordoma but its cases are less than 5 % cases throughout the world. It is a rare type of chordoma in which a mixture of abnormal cells are involved.
3. Poorly differentiated chordoma: Poorly differentiated chordoma is very rare. In medical literature, only 60 cases of this type of chordoma are recorded. INI 1, SAMARCB 1 gene deletion results in this type of rare sarcoma type. Young adults and children are mainly affected by this type of poorly differentiated chordoma.

Causes of Chordoma

Recent research revealed that the duplication or changes in the TBXT genes may be the cause of the chordoma. Changes in the TBXT genes trigger the growth of the abnormal cell which results in chordoma.

Symptoms of the Chordoma

When chordoma grows it puts pressure on the spinal cord which results in various symptoms in the patient. Here is the list of the symptoms:

• Numbness and weakness in the back
• Numbness and weakness in the arms, legs
• Pain in the back, arms, legs
• Headache
• Blurry vision
• Double vision
• Facial pain and numbness

If chordoma occurs in the coccyx i.e., the tail bone then the symptoms are as follows:

• Abnormal bladder and bowel function
• Lower back numbness and pain
• Lump feel through your skin

What is Ewing Sarcoma?

Ewing’s sarcoma is named after the doctor who described this sarcoma the first time. Most commonly Ewing’ sarcoma occurs in bones and soft tissues and commonly occurs in the shoulder blades, hips, and ribs. Ewing sarcoma is very rare. Sarcoma mainly occurs in teenagers and children, but it also occurs at any age.

Cause of Ewing gene

Change in the gene EWSR 1 is the main cause of the Ewing gene.

Symptoms of the Ewing gene

• Unexplained tiredness
• Fever with unknown reason 
• Unexplained weight loss
• Tenderness, swelling, and pain in the affected area
• Pain in bone

What is Fibrosarcoma?

Fibrosarcoma is the soft tissue sarcoma, and it is also rare like Ewing sarcoma. Soft tissues that keep our body together are known as fibrous tissue and the sarcoma that occurs in fibrous tissue is known as fibrosarcoma. The adults between 20- 60 are more often affected by fibro sarcoma and the men are more commonly affected by fibro sarcoma than women. The parts that are mainly affected by the fibrosarcoma are the knees, arms, thighs, and trunk.

Causes of Fibrosarcoma

• Werner syndrome
• Retino blastoma
• Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome
• Tuberous sclerosis
• Familial adenomatous polyposis
• Neurofibromatosis type- 1
• Previous radiation therapy
• Lymphedema

Symptoms of Fibrosarcoma

• A pinched nerve (sharp, aching, or burning pain) due to nerve compression.
• Unexplained weight loss
• A soft lump that is painful
• Unusual swelling

There are approximately 70 different sub-types of sarcomas. The most common sub-types of sarcoma are as follows:

• Fibro sarcoma – This is fibroblastic sarcoma that develops in fibrous tissues.
• Kaposi sarcoma – This type of sarcoma occurs in the lymphatic vessels and in the cells that line the inside of the blood cells.
• Chondrosarcoma – This type of sarcoma develops in the cartilage cells.
• Leiomyosarcoma – This type of sarcoma develops in the smooth muscles of the organs in the pelvis and abdomen.
• Myeloid sarcoma – This type of blood cancer develops outside the bone marrow.
• Liposarcoma – This sarcoma develops in fatty tissues.
• Angiosarcoma – This is the type of vascular sarcoma that develops in lymphatic vessels or the walls of the blood cells.
• Clear cell sarcoma – This sarcoma develops in the deep soft tissues surrounding the tendons and muscles in the lower feet and legs.
• Ewing’s sarcoma – This sarcoma develops in the bone cells and immature soft tissue.
• Epithelioid sarcoma – This is the soft tissue sarcoma that originates under the skin of the hand, lower foot, leg, forearm, hand, etc.
• Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans sarcoma – This sarcoma develops in the skin.
• Spindle cell sarcoma – This type of sarcoma originates in the long bones such as legs and arms.
• Synovial sarcoma – This type of sarcoma develops in the cells near the tendons and joints.
• Rhabdomyosarcoma – This sarcoma develops in the skeletal muscles.

• Also Read – Ayurvedic Treatment for Cancer