Osteosarcoma is the commonest type of primary bone cancer in the UK, however it is still a rare tumour with only about 150 new cases every year.

The majority of these are high grade central osteosarcomas. This means that they are aggressive, rapidly growing tumours, with a strong tendency to spread (usually to the lungs), and that they arise within the bone, rather than on its surface. Although these are very aggressive cancers the introduction of chemotherapy at an early stage in their treatment has improved the cure rate very considerably in recent years.

A much less common high grade variant is the high grade surface osteosarcoma. This is, once again, an agressive tumour, but occurs on the surface of the bone, rather than within the bone.

Less aggressive, slow growing osteosarcomas also occur. These are the low grade central osteosarcoma (arising within the bone), and periosteal and parosteal osteosarcomas, which develop on the surface of the bone.

The high grade sarcomas tend to occur in young people, between the ages of 10 to 20, whereas the less aggressive, low grade osteosarcomas tend to occur in a slightly older age group.