Primary bone cancer, which means cancer that begins in bone tissue, is rare. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 2,570 new cases of primary bone cancer will be diagnosed in 2005 -- a figure that represents less than 0.2 percent of all cancers.
Primary bone cancer can grow in any of the 206 bones of the adult human body, but it occurs most often in the long bones of the arms and legs. Although bone cancer can present itself at any age, the most common types occur in children and young adults. Bone cancers form in the cells that make hard bone tissue. Cancers that arise in the cells produced in the bone marrow, such as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and lymphoma, are not considered bone cancers, although they do affect the bone and may require orthopaedic management.
Benign (noncancerous) bone tumors are more common than malignant (cancerous) ones. Although benign tumors do not spread and are rarely life threatening, both types may grow and compress healthy bone tissue and absorb or replace it with abnormal tissue.
