At the UK HealthCare Comprehensive Spine Center, our experts work together to create the treatment plan that best fits your specific needs. Your care team might use a combination of techniques to treat osseous tumors.
Some osteoid osteomas will go away on their own and can be managed with surveillance and pain management.
These common, over-the-counter medicines target chemicals responsible for pain, inflammation and fever, reducing their production to ease these symptoms.
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is sometimes used as a minimally invasive treatment option for chronic pain. Also known as radiofrequency neurotomy, this procedure targets specific nerves transmitting pain signals. A thin electrode-tipped needle is inserted near the targeted nerve with the help of imaging guidance (X-ray or fluoroscopy). This treatment uses heat to disrupt the nerve's ability to send pain signals. This can help reduce long-term pain.
Targeted therapy, or precision medicine, uses drugs to talk to certain proteins or genes in cancer cells and tell them to stop reproducing. Targeted therapy may be given via outpatient infusion, or it may be a medicine that you take at home. You may be on and off a targeted therapy for days, weeks, months or longer.
For severe pain, your doctor may consider opioid medications like oxycodone or hydrocodone. However, these powerful but addictive pain relievers are typically reserved for short-term use due to their potential risks.
These artificial anti-inflammatory medicines mimic the effects of cortisol, a hormone naturally produced by the adrenal glands. Corticosteroids help alleviate pain and stiffness by reducing inflammation.
Corticosteroids can be given in various ways, including injections, by mouth, application to the skin or intravenous (IV) delivery. They are often used short-term to manage severe pain flares, but they can also be used long-term alongside other medicines for certain conditions.
Oral steroids are a type of corticosteroid that can temporarily reduce inflammation around the spine to help alleviate pain. Oral steroids can be used on a short-term basis for severe pain flares. Or they can be used on a long-term basis with other medicines for some specific conditions.
Patients with cancerous tumors that have not spread beyond the spine might also need surgery. Patients whose cancer has spread to the spine but is not affecting the spinal cord might not need surgery.
Some patients with giant cell tumors or ABC might need radiation to shrink. In rare cases, patients with osteoblastoma may need radiation.
The type of tumor removal surgery you need will vary depending on the size of the tumor, the type of cancer, where it is located, and how far it has spread. You will likely need to spend several days in the hospital after surgery and may need physical therapy to help you recover.
Chemotherapy uses special drugs to destroy cancer cells. You may need chemotherapy to shrink a tumor prior to surgery. Or you may need it after surgery to attack cancer cells that remain in your body.
In most cases, chemotherapy is an outpatient IV infusion treatment performed in an infusion suite or clinic. Patients typically receive chemotherapy infusions for a few hours, for several weeks in a row. You may also be prescribed oral chemotherapy that you take at home.
Most patients may need a combination of drugs or multiple rounds of chemotherapy.
Radiation therapy is a form of cancer treatment that uses high doses of targeted energy to kill cancer cells. You may need radiation before or after surgery.
There are three types of radiation therapy:
- External beam radiation is performed by directing the targeted energy to the tumor in the body from a machine outside the body. Most people receive external beam radiation for weeks at a time.
- Internal radiation, also called brachytherapy, is performed by placing a radioactive source near the tumor within the body. Brachytherapy can be removed after a period of time or left inside the body until it is no longer radioactive.
- Systemic radiation is performed by having patients either take a liquid medicine by mouth or delivered through a vein. Systemic radiation travels throughout the entire body, but the medicines will collect in areas where cancer is present.
This outpatient treatment usually lasts for a short time. However, you will need radiation almost every day for several weeks in a row.
Some malignant spinal osseous tumors can be hard to treat. Specialists at the UK HealthCare Comprehensive Spine Center can connect qualified patients to appropriate clinical trials.