Treatment of bone tumors is highly dependent on the type of tumor.

A bone tumor (also spelled bone tumour) is a neoplastic growth of tissue in bone. Abnormal growths found in the bone can be either benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous).

Average five-year survival in the United States after being diagnosed with bone and joint cancer is 67%.

Several research groups are investigating cancer stem cells and their potential to cause tumors along with genes and proteins causative in different phenotypes.Radiotherapy for unrelated conditions may be a rare cause.

- Familial cases where the deletion of chromosome 13q14 inactivates the retinoblastoma gene is associated with a high risk of osteosarcoma development.

- Bone dysplasias, including Paget's disease of bone, fibrous dysplasia, enchondromatosis, and hereditary multiple exostoses, increase the risk of osteosarcoma.

- Li–Fraumeni syndrome (germline TP53 mutation) is a predisposing factor for osteosarcoma development.

- Rothmund–Thomson syndrome (i.e. autosomal recessive association of congenital bone defects, hair and skin dysplasias, hypogonadism, and cataracts) is associated with increased risk of this disease.

- Large doses of Sr-90 emission from nuclear reactor, nicknamed bone seeker increases the risk of bone cancer and leukemia in animals, and is presumed to do so in people.

Despite persistent rumors suggesting otherwise, there is no clear association between water fluoridation and cancer or deaths due to cancer, both for cancer in general and also specifically for bone cancer and osteosarcoma. Series of research concluded that concentration of fluoride in water doesn't associate with osteosarcoma. The beliefs regarding association of fluoride exposure and osteosarcoma stem from a study of US National Toxicology program in 1990, which showed uncertain evidence of association of fluoride and osteosarcoma in male rats. But there is still no solid evidence of cancer-causing tendency of fluoride in mice. Fluoridation of water has been practiced around the world to improve citizens' dental health. It is also deemed as major health success. Fluoride concentration levels in water supplies are regulated, such as United States Environmental Protection Agency regulates fluoride levels to not be greater than 4 milligrams per liter. Actually, water supplies already have natural occurring fluoride, but many communities chose to add more fluoride to the point that it can reduce tooth decay. Fluoride is also known for its ability to cause new bone formation. Yet, further research shows no osteosarcoma risks from fluoridated water in humans. Most of the research involved counting number of osteosarcoma patients cases in particular areas which has difference concentrations of fluoride in drinking water. The statistic analysis of the data shows no significant difference in occurrences of osteosarcoma cases in different fluoridated regions. Another important research involved collecting bone samples from osteosarcoma patients to measure fluoride concentration and compare them to bone samples of newly diagnosed malignant bone tumors. The result is that the median fluoride concentrations in bone samples of osteosarcoma patients and tumor controls are not significantly different. Not only fluoride concentration in bones, Fluoride exposures of osteosarcoma patients are also proven to be not significantly different from healthy people.

Prognosis depends on how early the cancer is discovered and treated. For the least aggressive grade, about 90% of patients survive more than five years after diagnosis. People usually have a good survival rate at the low grade volume of cancer. For the most aggressive grade, only 10% of patients will survive one year.

Tumors may recur in the future. Follow up scans are extremely important for chondrosarcoma to make sure there has been no recurrence or metastasis, which usually occurs in the lungs.

Bone metastases, or metastatic bone disease, is a class of cancer metastases that results from primary tumor invasion to bone. Bone-originating primary tumors such as osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, and Ewing's sarcoma are rare. Unlike hematological malignancies that originate in the blood and form non-solid tumors, bone metastases generally arise from epithelial tumors and form a solid mass inside the bone. Bone metastases cause severe pain, characterized by a dull, constant ache with periodic spikes of incident pain.

The cause is unknown. Patients may have a history of enchondroma or osteochondroma. A small minority of secondary chondrosarcomas occur in patients with Maffucci syndrome and Ollier disease.

It has been associated with faulty isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 and 2 enzymes, which are also associated with gliomas and leukemias.

Prognosis is separated into three groups.

- Stage I osteosarcoma is rare and includes parosteal osteosarcoma or low-grade central osteosarcoma. It has an excellent prognosis (>90%) with wide resection.

- Stage II prognosis depends on the site of the tumor (proximal tibia, femur, pelvis, etc.), size of the tumor mass, and the degree of necrosis from neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Other pathological factors such as the degree of p-glycoprotein, whether the tumor is cxcr4-positive, or Her2-positive are also important, as these are associated with distant metastases to the lung. The prognosis for patients with metastatic osteosarcoma improves with longer times to metastases, (more than 12 months to 4 months), a smaller number of metastases, and their resectability. It is better to have fewer metastases than longer time to metastases. Those with a longer length of time (more than 24 months) and few nodules (two or fewer) have the best prognosis, with a two-year survival after the metastases of 50%, five-year of 40%, and 10-year of 20%. If metastases are both local and regional, the prognosis is worse.

- Initial presentation of stage III osteosarcoma with lung metastases depends on the resectability of the primary tumor and lung nodules, degree of necrosis of the primary tumor, and maybe the number of metastases. Overall survival prognosis is about 30%.

Deaths due to malignant neoplasms of the bones and joints account for an unknown number of childhood cancer deaths. Mortality rates due to osteosarcoma have been declining at about 1.3% per year. Long-term survival probabilities for osteosarcoma have improved dramatically during the late 20th century and approximated 68% in 2009.

A CT scan can detect bone metastases before becoming symptomatic in patients diagnosed with tumors with risk of spread to the bones. Even sclerotic bone metastases are generally less radiodense than enostoses, and it has been suggested that bone metastasis should be the favored diagnosis between the two for bone lesions lower than a cutoff of 1060 Hounsfield units (HU).

Childhood rhabdomyosarcoma has been fatal. Recovery rates have increased by 50 percent since 1975. In children five years of age or younger survival rates are up to 65 percent. In adolescents younger than 15 years old, the survival rate has increased up to 30 percent.

Treatment consists of wide resection or amputation. Metastases are rare at presentation but may occur in up to 30% of patients during the disease course. Prognosis is excellent, with overall survival of 85% at 10 years, but is lower when wide surgical margins cannot be obtained. This tumor is insensitive to radiation so chemotherapy is not typically used unless the cancer has metastasized to the lungs or other organs.

Bone lesions are caused by an imbalance of regulatory factors, characterized by an increased depletion and resorption of old bone tissue and a decrease in bone rebuilding, known as bone remodeling. This imbalance is due to a flooding of regulatory factors released by specific tumors, thus overwhelming the tissue repair system and resulting in these lesions. The over-activity of osteoclasts can also cause hypercalcemia, which can cause damage to the kidneys and requires additional medication and monitoring.

In multiple myeloma, an increased number of myeloma cells block osteoblasts from creating new bone, while these cancerous cells also release factors that cause an upregulation on osteoclasts, causing an increasing in bone tissue resorption and an overall breakdown of bone integrity. This breakdown often begins in the bone marrow near tumor sites and spreads outward to the surface of the implicated bone.

The most common cancers that metastasize to osteolytic lesions are prostate, thyroid, lung and breast, though any cancer can cause bone lesions. Lesions are most often found in larger bones, such as the skull, pelvis, radius, and femur.

Metastatic tumor of jaws is the most common form of cancer involving bone. It affects the mandible in 61% of cases, the maxilla in 24% of cases, and soft tissue in 16% of cases. In the majority of cases, the tumor originated in the breast, lung, kidney, colon, or prostate. The original tumor usually spreads to the jaws through Batson's paravertebral plexus. Teeth can become mobile and paresthesia can occur. On radiographs, the periodontal ligaments appear widened, and the cancer has a moth-eaten appearance.

An osteolytic lesion (from the Greek words for "bone" (ὀστέον), and "to unbind" (λύειν)) is a softened section of a patient's bone formed as a symptom of specific diseases, including breast cancer and multiple myeloma. This softened area appears as a hole on X-ray scans due to decreased bone density. Osteolytic lesions can cause pain, increased risk of bone fracture, and spinal chord compression. These lesions can be treated using biophosphonates or radiation, though new solutions are being tested in clinical trials.

The annual incidence rates per million for ameloblastomas are 1.96, 1.20, 0.18 and 0.44 for black males, black females, white males and white females respectively. Ameloblastomas account for about one percent of all oral tumors and about 18% of odontogenic tumors. Men and women tend to be equally affected, although women tend to be 4 years younger than men when tumors first occur and tumors appear to be larger in females.

Recurrence is common, although the recurrence rates for block resection followed by bone graft are lower than those of enucleation and curettage. Follicular variants appear to recur more than plexiform variants. Unicystic tumors recur less frequently than "non-unicystic" tumors. Persistent follow-up examination is essential for managing ameloblastoma. Follow up should occur at regular intervals for at least 10 years. Follow up is important, because 50% of all recurrences occur within 5 years postoperatively. Recurrence within a bone graft (following resection of the original tumor) does occur, but is less common. Seeding to the bone graft is suspected as a cause of recurrence. The recurrences in these cases seem to stem from the soft tissues, especially the adjacent periosteum. Recurrence has been reported to occur as many as 36 years after treatment.

To reduce the likelihood of recurrence within grafted bone, meticulous surgery with attention to the adjacent soft tissues is required.

The most common bone tumor is called osteosarcoma, and typically affects middle-age to older dogs of large and giant breeds. Osteosarcoma is less common in cats. Osteosarcoma is an aggressive cancer that can develop in any bone of the body but the majority is seen in the limbs (e.g. long bones such as radius, humerus, femur, and tibia).

Adamantinoma (from the Greek word "adamantinos", meaning "very hard") is a rare bone cancer, making up less than 1% of all bone cancers. It almost always occurs in the bones of the lower leg and involves both epithelial and osteofibrous tissue.

The condition was first described by Fischer in 1913.

Adult survivors of childhood cancer have some physical, psychological, and social difficulties.

Premature heart disease is a major long-term complication in adult survivors of childhood cancer. Adult survivors are eight times more likely to die of heart disease than other people, and more than half of children treated for cancer develop some type of cardiac abnormality, although this may be asymptomatic or too mild to qualify for a clinical diagnosis of heart disease.

Parathyroid cancer occurs in midlife at the same rate in men and women.

Conditions that appear to result in an increased risk of parathyroid cancer include multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, autosomal dominant familial isolated hyperparathyroidism and hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome (which also is hereditary). Parathyroid cancer has also been associated with external radiation exposure, but, most reports describe an association between radiation and the more common parathyroid adenoma.

Depending on the pet's unique condition, there are several treatment options, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Treating the pain adequately is also of crucial importance to improve the pet's quality of life, especially if amputation is not performed.

Children with cancer are at risk for developing various cognitive or learning problems. These difficulties may be related to brain injury stemming from the cancer itself, such as a brain tumor or central nervous system metastasis or from side effects of cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Studies have shown that chemo and radiation therapies may damage brain white matter and disrupt brain activity.

Childhood rhabdomyosarcoma is a cancer that develops out of the cells that form skeletal muscles. These cells are called "rhabdomyoblasts".

This type of malignant cancer is seen most commonly in children and adolescents. This is most commonly seen in the head and neck; however, it can be found almost anywhere in the body.

The disease is progressive and slowly worsens with time, although people may remain minimally symptomatic. Treatment is aimed at controlling symptoms, but there is no cure. Any bone or bones can be affected, but Paget's disease occurs most frequently in the spine, skull, pelvis, femur, and lower legs.

Osteogenic sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, is a rare complication of Paget's disease occurring in less than one percent of those affected. The development of osteosarcoma may be suggested by the sudden onset or worsening pain.

Most patients experience moderate to severe hypercalcemia and high parathyroid hormone levels. A large mass in the neck is often seen, and renal and bone abnormalities are common.

Globally, multiple myeloma affected 488,000 people and resulted in 101,100 deaths in 2015. This is up from 49,000 in 1990.