Xiao Ma is a young and beautiful female employee of a foreign company who has just been employed, usually cheerful and likes sports. The doctor prescribed painkillers and took them without paying attention. Recently, the pain worsened and he had to go to the orthopedic surgery department of a large hospital. After taking films, the specialist diagnosed “osteosarcoma” (this is the most common malignant tumor that easily occurs in minors) and further CT and MRI examinations. After the family insisted, he underwent pathological examination by fine needle biopsy, and finally confirmed the diagnosis and was admitted to hospital for regular treatment. People may wonder: Why did he suffer from bone cancer at such a young age, but did he have any symptoms in general? What is the difference between bone cancer and joint pain? Is there any good prevention against it? We can answer this question from the following aspects: the insidiousness and danger of bone cancer Bone health is a very important part of human health and people are paying more and more attention to it. In particular, the prognosis of malignant bone tumors (commonly known as “bone cancer”) is not good, and the natural survival period without treatment after diagnosis is reported in the literature to be several months to one year. The incidence of various malignant bone tumors is obviously related to age, and most of them are young people in their adolescence and childhood, when they are growing and developing, with active sports and inevitable joint and muscle pains, which are often not easily noticed by patients, therefore, most of the bone cancer patients are diagnosed late and lose the opportunity of early treatment, and the prognosis is poor. What are the characteristics of bone cancer? What are the early signs? Malignant tumors occurring in various tissues of skeletal system, such as bone, cartilage and fibrous tissue, are collectively called malignant bone tumors. Bone tumors are divided into primary and secondary. Those growing from bone tissues themselves are called primary tumors, which account for about 2% of all tumors, half of which are benign; secondary tumors refer to tumors of other tissues or organs in the body that metastasize to the bone, and most of them are malignant. The age of onset of primary bone tumors is generally low, mostly occurring in adolescents with vigorous bone growth, the high incidence age for males is 15-24 years old and for females is 5-14 years old, and males are higher than females, which may be related to the early and late growth of bone and endocrine development of different genders and the length of time. And secondary ones mostly occur in older people, and gradually worsen with the development of the disease. Bone joint pain, bony masses and limited motion are considered as the three main symptoms of bone tumors, especially bone cancer, but many bone tumors do not have typical clinical symptoms in early stage, thus early detection is difficult. Pain is an important symptom of malignant bone tumor, which is intermittent at the beginning of the disease, but later develops into persistent, and the phenomenon of “nocturnal pain” is prominent, and the pain increases in the late stage, which affects work and rest. 2.The pain in the limbs of adolescent patients is consistent with the site of swelling (or lump) and has the characteristics of fixity and persistence, especially at night, and it is getting worse day by day, so it should be highly alert. 3.When you feel that the pain and swelling of the limbs are not caused by trauma, inflammation or wind or cold, you should not take it lightly and go for further examination. 4.When the original benign lumps on the bones suddenly increase in size and are accompanied by pain, it means that there may be a trend of malignant lesions. 5. When unexplained limb pain and low back pain appear after exercise in adolescent patients and tend to aggravate progressively, they should be alert to the possibility of bone tumor. In addition, bone cancer often has abnormalities in experimental examinations such as accelerated blood sedimentation and elevated alkaline phosphatase. High-quality X-ray, CT and MRI are of great value; puncture biopsy can be performed if the diagnosis is suspected. Remember not to perform incisional biopsy, otherwise limb preservation surgery cannot be performed. Psychological preparation for bone cancer In the past, bone cancer of minors’ limbs was mainly treated by amputation surgery, and the survival rate was not high, which caused great fear to patients. With the development of science and technology, cancer diagnosis methods are becoming more and more advanced, and treatment methods are becoming more and more advanced and reliable, so that cancer cells have no place to hide in human body. At present, the magic weapon for mankind to overcome cancer is to strive for early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment of cancer. After a patient is diagnosed with bone cancer, first of all, he/she should maintain a calm mood and treat the facts correctly, because bone cancer can be treated and many bone cancers can be cured by “limb preservation” and return to normal life. Secondly, you should go to a specialist to receive regular treatment, and avoid seeking medical treatment indiscriminately and misleading your condition. In addition, to maintain a good mental state and psychological balance is very important to build up confidence to overcome cancer. We should believe in science, oppose superstition and hearsay, and actively seek medical consultation. Prevention and treatment strategy of bone cancer Currently, the cause of bone tumor is still unknown, and some scholars believe that it may be related to bone injury, chronic infection, radioactive stimulation, genetics and other factors, so it is not easy to take preventive measures from etiology. Since there is no effective way to face cancer easily, the best way to deal with it is prevention, such as lifestyle changes, including non-smoking, protection from solar radiation, limiting alcohol intake, adopting a high-fiber and low-fat diet, and exercising, etc., which can reduce the risk of malignant tumor development. Scientists are also experimenting with a new approach called chemoprevention, which is the use of vitamins and medications for healthy people at risk, also with the aim of preventing tumors from occurring. Since some benign bone tumors such as osteochondroma and endogenous chondroma of long tubular bone can evolve into malignant tumors. Therefore, these benign bone tumors should be closely observed, and if there are signs of malignant transformation, radical measures should be taken immediately. Incomplete surgery may turn benign bone tumors into malignant ones, so the surgery must be thorough to avoid malignant changes. Under the escort of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, it not only restores the appearance of affected limbs, but also improves patients’ courage and quality of life, and increases survival rate. Of course, the prognosis of bone cancer is closely related to the early and late treatment. At present, the common methods of bone cancer treatment are: 1. Surgery: surgery should be thorough to avoid recurrence or malignant transformation, but limb function should be preserved as much as possible. For malignant bone tumor should be mainly life-saving, and only under the premise of not reducing the survival rate, the preservation of limbs should be considered. 2.Radiotherapy: bone cancer can also reduce pain and limit its growth after radiotherapy. 3.Chemotherapy: chemotherapy of malignant tumor has been developed greatly in recent years and become an important part of comprehensive tumor treatment. 4.Chinese herbal medicine treatment: It is mainly to protect the righteousness and reduce the pain. In conclusion, attention should be paid to the discovery of early cases, early diagnosis and early treatment. Do not seek medical help indiscriminately, or listen to the miracle doctors with partial prescriptions, otherwise, not only the limbs will not be preserved, but also the valuable treatment time will be delayed. We should respect science, the cure rate of bone cancer cannot be 100%, and any cure is a lie.