Chondrosarcoma

Treatment

Surgery is generally the main treatment option for chondrosarcoma. If your cancer has not spread (metastasized), the cure rate is high. If it has spread, or for some forms of very aggressive chondrosarcoma, doctors may recommend chemotherapy.

If your cancer recurs at the initial site with no signs that it has spread, aggressive treatment can help you return to a cancer-free state. This may involve surgery, specialized radiation and ablation procedures (using liquid nitrogen or heating probes to destroy tumor deposits).

Surgery

Some tumors can be removed by cutting and freezing (curettage with cryotherapy). Most will require one of several types of limb-saving procedures, depending on the tumor's size and whether it has grown into or around nerves, blood vessels or a joint. Options include:

• Autograft. In this procedure, a surgeon takes your own healthy bone tissue to implant at the site where cancerous tissue is removed. Using your own tissue improves the chances of healing and reduces the risk of infection compared with using donor tissue.
• Allograft. This procedure involves using bone, tendons and ligaments from a tissue bank or donor to rebuild areas where a chondrosarcoma tumor is removed.
• Prosthetic implants. Surgeons can replace sections of bone with specialized prosthetic implants. Expandable and solid implants of many different sizes are available.