Because bones form the structural ‘foundation’ of our bodies, we consider them quite hard and resilient. However, they also contain living cells and bone marrow which makes blood cells. Therefore bones are also prone to growth of tumours (cancerous or other). Malignant tumours, or cancer can either start in the bone, or spread from other parts of the body to the bone (metastasis). Although bone cancer is considered, statistics show that bones are the 3rd most prevalent location where cancer can occur.

Your GP should always be your first point of call for any concerns you might have. A GP is trained to identify symptoms and signs of a variety of diseases. Generally if there’s any concern that you might have bone cancer, you’ll be redirect to a radiologist or orthopaedic surgeon with a subspecialty in oncology.

Dr David Shooter is an Orthopaedic Oncologist, or in other words, a doctor who specialises in cancer (oncology) of the bone (orthopaedics). He provides a number of surgical services which you can read more about by clicking on the below links:

Diagnosis and treatment of benign (non-threatening) tumours in the bone
Diagnosis and treatment of malignant (cancerous) tumours in the bone
Treatment of bone metastasis – cancer that starts elsewhere and spreads to your bones
Limb salvage or surgical intervention that prevents limb amputation