Research into primary bone cancer
Researchers around the world are looking at the causes, diagnosis and treatment of primary bone cancer.
Go to Cancer Research UK’s clinical trials database if you are looking for a trial for primary bone cancer in the UK. You need to talk to your specialist if there are any trials that you think you might be able to take part in.
Some of the trials on this page have now stopped recruiting people. It takes time before the results are available. This is because the trial team follow the patients for a period of time and collect and analyse the results. We have included this ongoing research to give examples of the type of research being carried out in primary bone cancer.
Research and clinical trials
All cancer treatments must be fully researched before they can be used for everyone. This is so we can be sure that:
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they work
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they work better than the treatments already available
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they are safe
To make sure the research is accurate, each trial has certain entry conditions for who can take part. These are different for each trial.
Hospitals do not take part in every clinical trial. Some trials are only done in a small number of hospitals, or in one area of the country. You may need to travel quite far if you take part in these trials.
Research into diagnosing bone cancer
Researchers are looking at new tests for bone cancer. These tests provide 
information about the bone cancer. The researchers will look at how doctors use these test results when they make treatment decisions.
Research into treatment for bone cancer
Chemotherapy
Researchers are comparing to a . They want to know which treatment is better for children and young people with osteosarcoma that has come back or continued to grow despite treatment.
Targeted and immunotherapy drugs
Researchers are looking at how well targeted and work for:
- advanced bone cancer that has spread to another part of the body
- bone cancer that has come back after treatment
There are different types of targeted and immunotherapy drugs. For bone cancer, doctors are looking at:
- sunitinib
- nivolumab
- lenvatinib
Surgery
It is important that surgeons remove all the bone cancer as well as a border of normal tissue. This can be difficult in bone cancer. Bone cancer surgery can also affect your . To improve surgery for bone cancer, researchers are looking at:
- a fluorescent dye to see if it can help surgeons remove all the cancer cells
- improving bone
implants
Improving treatment for osteosarcoma
There has not been much improvement in osteosarcoma survival in the last 25 years. Doctors want to understand more about how and why osteosarcoma starts and grows. A better understanding might help doctors decide which treatments are likely to work best.
Research into monitoring bone cancer
Researchers are looking at a new type of that measures how well the cancer is responding to chemotherapy.
