Why Choose Us for Bone Sarcoma Treatment
At Huntsman Cancer Institute, you receive comprehensive, multidisciplinary care for bone sarcomas. Our Sarcoma Care Team provides personalized and compassionate care at every step, from evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment to long-term follow-up and survivorship.
We care for adults at Huntsman Cancer Institute and children at Primary Children’s Hospital through our integrated team of internationally recognized experts in sarcoma surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, radiology, and pathology. As the only Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the National Cancer Institute in the Mountain West, we offer the latest evidence-based treatments, including access to groundbreaking bone sarcoma-specific clinical trials.
“I feel comfortable putting my life in the hands of these doctors any day of the week. They’re not just good at what they do—they’re passionate about what they do.”
Dan Hedlund
Osteosarcoma Patient
Treatments We Offer
Our team of sarcoma experts collaborates closely to help you develop personalized treatment plans. Central to that collaborative care are our weekly multidisciplinary treatment planning conferences, where our entire team of sarcoma experts meets to work together on the best treatment plan for each patient.
We offer a comprehensive range of specialized treatments for bone sarcoma patients:
- Surgery: Surgery is often the primary treatment for localized sarcomas. Our surgical oncology team employs limb-sparing surgeries to remove tumors while preserving or rebuilding the affected limb's function. This approach is applicable in the vast majority of extremity sarcoma cases. For sarcomas in the chest or abdomen, or associated with organs, our surgeons employ similarly function-optimizing techniques.
- Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy is used as the principal treatment of sarcomas that are not removable with surgery. We utilize advanced radiation techniques, including proton therapy, to deliver precise radiation doses to tumors while minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissues.
- Chemotherapy: Sarcoma treatment includes traditional chemotherapies for bone sarcomas, or other systemic treatments (applied in pill or infusion form) that avoid some of the known unpleasant side effects of traditional chemotherapies.
- Clinical trials: We operate the only Phase 1 clinical cancer research program in the region, offering more than 400 open clinical trials to patients. These trials provide access to cutting-edge therapies and investigational treatments, contributing to advancements in sarcoma care. We have a number of bone sarcoma-specific clinical trials open at any given time.
Our Expertise
We are at the forefront of sarcoma treatment, with expertise in the following:
- Multidisciplinary care for all types of bone sarcomas
- Coordinated care across specialties and geographic regions
- Long-term follow-up and survivorship support
- Access to bone sarcoma clinical trials
Supportive care services are available for every patient and patient’s family member. You are supported by a team of providers, nurses, medical assistants, social workers, and counselors.
We can also coordinate care for patients from a long distance, working with local providers and arranging the vast supportive care resources of the Hope Lodge and Ronald McDonald House for patients needing to relocate temporarily to Salt Lake City. We connect teenagers and young adult patients to a host of supportive services available through the Huntsman-Intermountain Adolescent and Young Adult (HIAYA) Cancer Care Program.
Patient Care Philosophy
We believe no one should face cancer alone. Our dedicated and world-renowned doctors, nurses, and medical staff are at the forefront of patient-centered care. We treat the whole person, not just their cancer.
Each day, our medical, surgical, and radiation oncologists work together across disciplines to create and coordinate treatment plans for every patient. We understand cancer is a complex disease. That is why we use a team approach that includes social workers and support groups, as well as wellness and integrative health services such as acupuncture, massage, creative arts, and more.
Find a Bone Sarcoma Doctor
Bone Sarcoma Research
Huntsman Cancer Institute is a leader in sarcoma research, focusing on understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying different sarcoma types.
Through our specialty Sarcoma Disease Center, we bring together doctors and scientists who work side by side to turn scientific discoveries into better outcomes for you.
Our researchers have developed genetically engineered models for osteosarcoma. These models are instrumental in testing and improving cancer treatments, as well as in conducting basic research to understand the mechanisms and genetic basis of sarcoma development.
Clinical Trials
Make an Appointment with a Bone Sarcoma Specialist
To make an appointment with a bone sarcoma specialist, fill out our appointment form or call 801-587-7000. Our team will determine if your insurance covers treatment at Huntsman Cancer Institute or if you need a referral from a primary care doctor.
External providers can refer a patient using the online referral form or by calling 801-587-7000 to speak to a patient registration specialist.
Bone Sarcoma Basics
Bone sarcomas are cancers of the bone. Bone sarcomas present as tumors apparent radiographically in the bones and skeleton. These types of cancers are seen most often in children and young adults.
There are several types of bone sarcomas. Here are some of the bone sarcomas we diagnose and treat:
- Osteosarcoma: Osteosarcoma is the most common type of bone cancer and usually starts in osteoblasts, a type of bone cell that forms new bone tissue.
- Chondrosarcoma: Chondrosarcoma develops in cartilage and typically starts in the arms, chest, legs, or pelvis.
- Ewing sarcoma: Ewing sarcoma forms from a specific type of cell in bone or soft tissue and may be found in the bones of the legs, arms, feet, hands, chest, pelvis, spine, or skull. It can also develop in the soft tissue of the trunk, arms, legs, head and neck, abdomen, or other areas of the body.
- Chordoma: Chordoma is a rare tumor that forms in the spine or at the base of the skull.
These may be signs of bone cancers:
- Bone or joint pain
- Fractures or breaks in the bone for no known reason
- Swelling over a bone or bony part
Many other health problems can also cause these signs. If you have any of these signs, see your doctor as soon as possible.
Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean you are sure to get cancer. It means your chances are higher than the average person’s. Talk with your doctor to learn more about your cancer risk.
These are risk factors for bone sarcomas. Specific risk factors vary depending on the type of bone cancer:
- Previous radiation therapy or treatment with anticancer drugs called alkylating agents
- A family history of osteosarcoma
- Changes in certain genes such as the retinoblastoma gene
- Age
- Older age (for chondrosarcoma)
- Younger age (childhood, teenage or young adult age for osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma)
- These conditions:
- Bloom syndrome
- Diamond-Blackfan anemia
- Li-Fraumeni syndrome
- Paget disease
- Rothmund-Thomson syndrome
- Werner syndrome
Understand your risk. Schedule a genetic counseling session today.
Doctors may use these tests to diagnose bone sarcomas:
- Physical exam and history: A health care provider examines your body for signs of disease. Your personal health habits, past illnesses, and symptoms help guide the exam.
- Imaging tests: Using dyes, X-rays, magnets, radio waves and/or computer technology, your health care provider can create detailed images of internal organs. Your health care provider may inject or have you swallow a dye to help see the images.
- Biopsy: The health care provider removes cell or tissue samples so they can be viewed under a microscope to check for signs of cancer.
When a person is diagnosed with cancer, concerns about treatments and side effects, hospital stays, and medical bills are common. Huntsman Cancer Institute offers many ways to support patients, caregivers, and loved ones.
Staging is the process that shows whether bone sarcoma has spread to other parts of the body. Cancer spreads in the body in three ways: through tissue, the lymph system, or the blood.
Bone cancer cells are often categorized in these ways:
- Localized: The cancer has not spread out of the bone where it started.
- Metastatic: The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
When cancer spreads from where it started to another part of the body, it is called metastasis. These metastatic cancer cells are the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if osteosarcoma cells spread to the liver, the cancer cells in the liver are actually osteosarcoma cells. The disease is metastatic osteosarcoma, not liver cancer.
Need help navigating your care? The Cancer Learning Center is here to support you with personalized guidance, resources, and answers to your questions.
