Orthopaedic Oncology

The SIU School of Medicine orthopaedics Oncology division specializes in providing a variety of oncology services for adults and children with musculoskeletal tumors.

Patients of all ages from throughout central and southern Illinois visit SIU to receive the latest treatments for disorders such as primary and secondary bone legions, both benign and malignant, soft tissue tumors and metastic lesions. The medical institution also offers management of orthopaedic problems in oncologic patients in areas such as fractures, trauma and infections. Common conditions and treatments include bone cysts, osteomyelitis, osteosarcoma, Ewing’s Sarcoma and chondrosarcoma.
Osteochondromas are the most common benign bone tumors and occur most often in people between the ages of 10 and 20 years of age. Some benign bone tumors disappear and do not require treatment -- these benign tumors are monitored periodically through x-rays.
Malignant bone tumors occur as a primary bone tumor or as a metastasis, which is cancer which has spread from another part of the body. Primary bone tumors are rare. Malignant bone tumors include osteosarcomas, Ewing’s sarcoma, fibrosarcoma, and chondrosarcoma. The most common cancers that spread to the bone are cancer of the breast, lung, prostate, kidney, and thyroid.
SIU School of Medicine utilizes the latest technological advances in the field of orthopaedic oncology in its treatment options, according to Dr. Gordon Allan, chairman of the division of orthopaedics and rehabilitation. Treatments include the increased use of MRIs, which identify a tumor’s exact location, which facilitates preserving a patient’s affected extremity and allows increased feasibility for limb salvage, says Dr. Allan.

Chemotherapy is another treatment option used to enhance a patient’s survival rate. SIU School of Medicine incorporates exciting new advances in chemotherapy drugs, which exploit subtle differences in the physiology between tumor and normal cells and offer more effective, less toxic ways of treating tumors. Advanced, new tools provide effective and specific ways of identifying the metabolic differences between normal and tumor cells, which are key components to increasing a patient’s immunity while targeting tumor cells.