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Key Statistics for Osteosarcoma
Osteosarcoma is not a common cancer. Each year, about 1,000 new cases of osteosarcoma are diagnosed in the United States. About half of these are in children and teens.
Most osteosarcomas occur in children, teens, and young adults between the ages of 10 and 30. Teens are the most commonly affected age group, but people of any age can develop osteosarcoma. About 1 in 10 osteosarcomas occur in people older than 60.
About 2% of childhood cancers are osteosarcomas, but they make up a much smaller percentage of adult cancers.
The prognosis (outlook) for people with osteosarcoma depends on many factors, including where the tumor is, if the cancer has already spread (metastasized) when it’s first found, and the person’s age. For more on this, see Survival Rates for Osteosarcoma.
Visit the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center for more key statistics.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2020. Atlanta, Ga. American Cancer Society; 2020.
Anderson ME, Dubois SG, Gebhart MC. Chapter 89: Sarcomas of bone. In: Niederhuber JE, Armitage JO, Doroshow JH, Kastan MB, Tepper JE, eds. Abeloff’s Clinical Oncology. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier; 2020.
Mirabello L, Troisi RJ, Savage SA. Osteosarcoma incidence and survival rates from 1973 to 2004. Cancer. 2009;115:1531–1543.
National Cancer Institute. Osteosarcoma and Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma of Bone Treatment (PDQ). 2020. Accessed at https://www.cancer.gov/types/bone/hp/osteosarcoma-treatment-pdq on July 21, 2020.
Wang LL, Gebhardt MC, Rainusso N. Osteosarcoma: Epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and histology. UpToDate. Accessed at www.uptodate.com/contents/osteosarcoma-epidemiology-pathogenesis-clinical-presentation-diagnosis-and-histology on July 22, 2020.
Last Revised: October 8, 2020
American Cancer Society medical information is copyrighted material. For reprint requests, please see our Content Usage Policy.
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