Hormone Therapy for Bone Cancer

According to information from the National Cancer Institute, bone cancers are labeled depending on the type of bone tissue in which they begin, including chondrosarcoma (beginning in the cartilage), osteosarcoma (occurring in osteoid--pre-bone--tissue) and sarcoma (occurring in either bone or soft tissue surrounding the bone). The most common symptom of all types of bone cancer is pain, but it does not always occur. Hormone therapy is one option for sufferers of bone cancer, in which sex hormone production is halted or impaired to decrease the spread of the cancer.

Hormone Therapy Procedure

• Understand the procedure behind hormone therapy to better understand whether or not it is a viable method of treatment for your particular case of bone cancer. According to information from the American Cancer Society and the medical health website HealthScout.com, hormone therapy involves cessation of production of or impairment of the body's ability to use the sex hormones testosterone (for men) and estrogen (for women). This can be effectuated in a number of ways, including surgical castration (removal of the sex organs--the testicles in men and the ovaries in women), chemical castration (use of drugs to prevent the body from producing sex hormones) or chemical impairment (use of drugs that inhibit the body's ability to utilize produced hormones, such as with tamoxifen in women and degarelix in men). Understand that hormone therapy is not a cure for bone cancer. It only seeks to inhibit the development of the cancer by removing one of the cancer's primary impetuses for growth--exposure to sex hormones. Therefore, you should enter into hormone therapy knowing full well that this is only a stopgap measure and will be used in conjunction with other cancer-fighting treatments.

Hormone Therapy Considerations

• Understand the side effects and other possible results of using hormone therapy to treat cancer. For men, removal or impairment of testosterone can trigger a number of undesirable side effects, such as decreased muscle mass, increased body fat, growth of male breast tissue, development of depression, chronic fatigue, impotence and hot flashes. For women, removal of estrogen can cause menopausal-type symptoms, such as vaginal dryness, hot flashes and weight gain. Therefore, you should have a frank conversation with your physician about these side effects, attempting to weigh whether these effects are worth a slowing of the cancer's development, considering (1) how much extra time the treatment will buy you; and (2) whether that extra time is worth the diminished quality of life that you will experience as a result of the treatment. Reach a reasoned decision by weighing all of the pros and cons beforehand to avoid having any regrets about using hormone therapy to combat bone cancer.