What is the most common type of cancer of the skeletal system?

Benign and malignant tumors can occur in bone and bone marrow, although these growths are far less common than tumors of the body's soft tissues. Children and adolescents are more susceptible to bone tumors than adults. Since X rays cannot show whether a bone tumor is benign or malignant, surgical biopsy of the affected tissue is necessary in all cases.

Benign Tumors

These tumors usually take the form of an overgrowth of bone tissue, often near a joint, with many cysts or hollow spaces in the affected tissue. These growths often cause pathological fractures, in which a bone breaks for no apparent reason. Swelling, pain, and limited mobility in the joint nearest the tumor are the most common symptoms. Treatment consists of surgical removal of the tumor, after which the surrounding bone gradually repairs itself as it does after a fracture.

Malignant Tumors

Bone cancers may be primary (originating in the bone tissue itself) or caused by metastasis of cancer cells from a site elsewhere in the body. The most common types of primary bone cancer are osteogenic sarcoma , a rapidly growing form of cancer that often spreads into nearby muscles; chondrosarcoma , which begins in cartilage at the end of a bone; and Eming's sarcoma , a highly malignant cancer of the shafts of the long bones in children.

Bone cancer of the extremities is treated by amputation of the affected limb, followed by radiation therapy. If treatment is begun early enough and all the cancerous tissue is removed, the prognosis for survival is favorable.

Most common skeletal malignancy - metastatic CA (meaning the cancer came from another organ and just ended up in the bone)

Most common PRIMARY malignant bone tumor - multiple myeloma

2nd - osteosarcoma

What TweetyBird said!

I have Ewing's but all bone cancers are pretty rare!

Multiple Myeloma, Diagnosed 18 mo ago.Incurable, Oh what fun its been ,

There's more than one "most common". Osteosarcoma, chondrosarcome and Ewing's sarcoma.