There are other types of primary bone cancer that do affect adults but they are very rare indeed. No one knows what causes primary bone cancer. People often think it can be caused by a blow or injury to the affected bone. Doctors are not sure whether this is true. It may be that having an injury to an arm or leg leads to a bone cancer that is already there being discovered, rather than the blow causing it.
Cancers take a long time to grow big enough to cause symptoms or be seen on a scan.
And often the injuries that are said to have caused a bone cancer have happened too recently for that to be likely. The treatment for primary bone cancer is surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The choice of treatment depends on the type of primary bone cancer, where it is in the body and whether it has spread. For osteosarcomas doctors most commonly use surgery and chemotherapy. For Ewing's sarcomas radiotherapy and chemotherapy are more usual.