Chemotherapy for bone cancer?
Chemotherapy is the use of chemical drugs for the treatment of cancer. First off chemotherapy for bone cancer works well for Ewing’s Sarcoma and osteosarcoma. Also, it supplements targeted therapy for other types of bone cancers like giant cell tumors, chordomas, and chondrosarcomas.
The primary chemotherapy drug combinations used to treat osteosarcoma tumors are:
- cisplatin and doxorubicin (Adriamycin)
- high-dose methotrexate, cisplatin, and doxorubicin
- ifosfamide (Ifex), cisplatin, and epirubicin (Pharmorubicin)
- doxorubicin, cisplatin, ifosfamide, and high-dose methotrexate
If osteosarcoma does not respond to drugs used in earlier treatments or if it comes back, the following are useful:
- gemcitabine (Gemzar)
- docetaxel (Taxotere) and gemcitabine
- cyclophosphamide (Procytox) and etoposide (Vepesid, VP-16)
- cyclophosphamide, and topotecan (Hycamtin)
- high-dose ifosfamide, with or without etoposide
- ifosfamide, carboplatin (Paraplatin, Paraplatin AQ) and etoposide
- high-dose methotrexate, etoposide, and ifosfamide
Also, some other drugs used in chemotherapy
- Cosmogenic (Dactinomycin)
- Denosumab
- Methotrexate
- Trexall (Methotrexate)
- Xgeva (Denosumab)
- Vincristine