Bone cancer can affect any bone in the body, including the hip bone. Primary hip bone cancer originates in the bone, and secondary hip bone cancer starts in another organ, like the liver or lung, and spreads to the hip. If a patient's cancer is advanced, he may receive more than one type of cancer therapy.
Sugery
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center notes that surgery is usually the primary treatment for bone cancer, often in conjunction with another type of treatment to ensure cancer eradication. The goal of surgery is to remove all of the bone cancer completely, usually by removing the tumor and some of the surrounding healthy tissue that may still harbor cancer cells. The Mayo Clinic notes that surgeons usually replace the removed bone with a prosthesis to fill out the joint and support the remaining bone.
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery is a specialized procedure that kills cancer cells in bones such as the hip. According to the National Cancer Institute, this type of therapy involves the use of liquid nitrogen to instantly freeze and kill the cancer cells.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals in the form of drugs to kill cancer cells. The National Cancer Institute reports that people with bone cancer, including cancer of the hip bone, often receive multidrug chemotherapy, which is the use of several different agents at the same time. Chemotherapy is unsuccessful in treating all types of bone cancer, however. For example, doctors do not use chemotherapy to treat chondrosarcoma, a type of cancer that originates in a type of bone cell called a chondrocyte.
Radiation Therapy
To perform radiation therapy for hip bone cancer, doctors use high-energy X-rays to kill the cancer cells, according to the Mayo Clinic. A specialized machine generates and focuses the X-rays specifically on the portion of the hip that contains the cancer cells. Targeting the X-rays specifically toward the cancer in the hip minimizes the number of healthy cells killed by the radiation. Doctors often administer radiation therapy before surgery to shrink the bone tumor, making it more likely that surgery can remove all of the cancer. Radiation therapy is often the therapy of choice for chondrosarcoma because this cancer cannot be treated with chemotherapeutic drugs.
