What Are the Treatments for Bone Metastases in Vulvar Cancer?

Vulvar cancer affects a woman's external genitalia, the vulva, according to the medical information site Medline Plus. Vulvar cancer is staged like most cancers, with stage IV being relegated to tumors that have metastasized, or spread throughout the body. When cancer has spread into the bones, treatment options become limited, and the goal of treatment shifts from forcing the cancer into remission to extending the patient's life and quality of life.

Bone Metastasis Surgery

• According to the American Cancer Society, once cancer enters the bones it has become so widespread that forcing a remission is no longer viable with current cancer-fighting means. Bone metastasis causes the bone to become weaker and more brittle, subject to breaking unexpectedly.

  One possible treatment in cases of bone metastasis is removal of the bone through surgery. This is especially necessary where the infected bone is weight-bearing, such as the femur (thighbone), because an unexpected break could prove life-threatening.

Palliative Options

• The other primary treatment options for dealing with vulvar cancer that has metastasized into the bones are palliative in nature. This means that the goal of treatment is to make the patient as comfortable as possible rather than trying to destroy the cancer. Palliative options for combating bone metastases include radiation therapy and chemotherapy.

  Radiation therapy utilizes high-powered radioactive waves to damage the genetic material of the cancerous cells, rendering them unable to continue reproducing. Chemotherapy consists of administration of poisonous drugs that act to kill the cancer cells. Chemotherapy works because the overall metabolism of cancerous cells is much faster than that of healthy tissue, causing the cancerous cells to absorb a disproportionate amount of the hazardous treatment.

  While these therapies are used to alleviate the pain of bone metastases, they do carry side effects, including fatigue, nausea, hair loss and vomiting. However this might be a small price to pay for relief from pain resulting from metastasized vulvar cancer.