About Bone Metastasis
Did you know:
- Bone metastases occur when cancer cells break off from a primary tumor site, enter the bloodstream and grow in bones.
- Bone metastasis is the primary cause of death in prostate cancer, which is the most common cancer in American males. It also is a common problem in breast cancer, myeloma, leukemia and other forms of cancer.
- Bone metastasis is one of the most frequent causes of pain in cancer patients. It not only causes fractures, but also increases blood calcium concentration that can greatly reduce an individual’s quality of life, and even threaten life.
Our understanding of the process of metastasis to the bone is still limited, and this hinders our ability to design effective methods to prevent or control the process. However, recent discoveries about the interactions between cancer cells and normal bone cells hold promise that additional research will translate into new drugs in the near future.