DEAR DR. GOTT: I am a seven-year survivor of ovarian cancer. I now have pain in one of my hips. I recently read an article about a lady who was a cancer survivor who developed bone cancer 10 years later. How do they test for bone cancer?
DEAR READER: Before jumping to the conclusion of bone cancer, you should consider the more common occurrence of arthritis of the hip, a condition that leads to pain in one or both hips as the cartilage begins to wear down.
If you underwent radiation, this could have sped up the deterioration of the connective tissues. The pain could also simply be age related, but because you did not provide any history, such as age, health status, medications, etc., I can’t determine whether this is likely.
I urge you to speak to your physician, who can order an X-ray that will show whether there are any abnormalities within the hip or bone suggesting arthritis, cancer or other causes, such as osteoporosis. If anything is abnormal, further testing will be necessary to determine the cause.
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