What Causes Osteolytic Lesions?

Osteolytic lesions form when the biological process of bone remodeling becomes imbalanced. 1 Normally during this process, old cells on the skeleton are broken down and replaced by new ones.

What cause lytic bone lesions?

Lytic lesions are essentially the hollowed-out holes where your cancer formerly existed. They are created when the cancer cells stimulate normal cells called osteoclasts to break down bone tissue in a process called resorption. After your cancer is gone, it is the job of the osteoblasts to rebuild the bone.

How are osteolytic lesions treated?

Biophosphonates are drugs that are used to prevent bone mass loss and are often used to treat osteolytic lesions. Zoledronic acid (Reclast) is a specific drug given to cancer patients to prevent the worsening of bone lesions and has been reported to have anti-tumor effects as well.