• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2011

Purpose: Bone metastasis from stomach cancer occurs only rarely and it is known to have a very poor prognosis. This study examined the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients who were diagnosed with stomach cancer and bone metastasis. Materials and Methods: The subjects were 19 patients who were diagnosed with stomach cancer at Hanyang University Medical Center from June 1992 to August 2010 and they also had bone metastasis. The survival rate according to many clinicopathologic factors was retrospectively analyzed. Results: 11 patients out of 18 patients (61%) who received an operation were in stage IV and the most common bone metastasis location was the spine. Bone scintigraphy was mostly used for diagnosing bone metastasis and PET-CT and magnetic resonance imaging were used singly or together. The serum alkaline phosphatase at the time of diagnosis had increased in 12 cases and there were clinical symptoms (bone pain) in 16 cases. Treatment was given to 14 cases and it was mostly radiotherapy. There were 2 cases of discovering bone metastasis at the time of diagnosing stomach cancer. The interval after operation to the time of diagnosing bone metastasis for the 18 cases that received a stomach cancer operation was on average $14.9{\pm}17.3$ months and the period until death after the diagnosis of bone metastasis was on average $3.8{\pm}2.6$ months. As a result of univariate survival rate analysis, the group that was treated for bone metastasis had a significantly better survival period when the bone metastasis was singular rather than multiple, as compared to the non-treatment group, yet both factors were not independent prognosis factors on multivariate survival analysis. Conclusions: An examination to confirm the status of bone metastasis when conducting a radio-tracer test after the initial diagnosis and also after an operation is needed for stomach cancer patients, and bone scintigraphy is the most helpfully modality. Making the diagnosis at the early stage and suitable treatments are expected to enhance the survival rate and improve the quality of life even for the patients with bone metastasis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1503-1510
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• 2014

Breast cancer bone metastasis causing severe morbidity is commonly encountered in daily clinical practice. It causes pain, pathologic fractures, spinal cord and other nerve compression syndromes and life threatening hypercalcemia. Breast cancer metastasizes to bone through complicated steps in which numerous molecules play roles. Metastatic cells disrupt normal bone turnover and create a vicious cycle to which treatment efforts should be directed. Bisphosphonates have been used safely for more than two decades. As a group they delay time to first skeletal related event and reduce pain, but do not prevent development of bone metastasis in patients with no bone metastasis, and also do not prolong survival. The receptor activator for nuclear factor ${\kappa}B$ ligand inhibitor denosumab delays time to first skeletal related event and reduces the skeletal morbidity rate. Radionuclides are another treatment option for bone pain. New targeted therapies and radionuclides are still under investigation. In this review we will focus on mechanisms of bone metastasis and its medical treatment in breast cancer patients.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.118-125
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• 2010

Background and Purpose: Bone metastases rarely occur in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), so the molecular mechanisms of bone metastasis of OSCC remains unclear. Studies with animal models allow progresses in understanding the molecular events for bone metastasis and provide new targets for therapy. So we tried to establish a murine model for bone metastasis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Materials and Methods: Human OSCC cells (KB cell line) were xenografted to nude mice via direct inoculation into the tibial marrow. Mice with tibial tumors were sacrificed once a week, until seven weeks after the injection of human tumor cells. Growth of tibial tumors were observed by histology. Expression of TGF-$\beta$ and CXCR-4 in bone OSCC (experimental) and subcutaneous tumor (control) was also evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Results: Bone OSCC was successfully induced by intra-tibial injection of KB cells. Tumor mass was developed in the marrow tissues of tibia and finally invade the endosteum of tibia. Immunohistochemical staining showed higher expression of TGF-$\beta$ in bone tumors than in subcutaneous tumors. Conclusion: A murine model of bone metastasis of OSCC was suggested that imitated the clinical findings of distant vascular metastasis. This bone tumor model should facilitate understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of OSCC bone metastasis, and aid in the developement of treatment strategies against OSCC bone metastasis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6369-6374
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• 2014

Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, predominantly due to the difficulty of early diagnosis and its high metastatic potential. Recently, increasing evidence suggests that circulating tumour cells (CTCs) are responsible for cancer metastatic relapse, and CTCs have attracted interest in cancer metastasis detection and quantification. In present study, we collected blood samples from 67 patients with bone metastasis, and 30 patients without such metastasis, and searched for CTCs. Then the association of CTC numbers with bone metastasis and other clinico-pothological variants was analyzed. Results demonstrated that when 5 or 1 was taken as a threshhold for the CTC number, there were significantly higher positivity of CTCs in the bone metastasis group than in the non-metastasis group. While the increase in CTC number was not significantly associated with any other clinicopathological factor, including age, gender, pathological type, intrapulmonary metastasis and lymph node metastasis, the CTC number in patients with positivity of the last above mentioned variants was obviously higher than in patients with negativity of the two variants. Taken together, the CTC number appears to be significantly associated with the bone metastasis from lung cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.19
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• pp.8401-8404
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• 2014

Background: To determine survival times of cervical cancer patients with bone metastasis related to the effect of age at the time of cervical cancer diagnosis, we performed the retrospectively analytical study. Methods: A total of 68 cervical cancer patients with bone metastasis were treated at a single hospital, during January 1998 to December 2010. Fifty-two medical records were identified and collected, the remaining sixteen medical records were not found. Main outcome measures were patient characteristics, clinical information, duration from cervical cancer diagnosis to bone metastasis diagnosis, survival time after bone metastasis and overall survival time. Results: Among fifty-two cervical cancer patients with bone metastasis, there were 13 patients who were less than 45 years old, and 39 patients were 45 years old or more at the time of cervical cancer diagnosis. The younger group had less median overall survival than the older group, with a statistically significant difference (21 months, 95% CI 19.93-22.06; 34 months, 95% CI 23.27-44.72, p = 0.021). However, they were comparable in the duration from cervical cancer diagnosis to bone metastasis diagnosis and the survival time after bone metastasis. Conclusion: Young patients with bone metastasis aged less than 45 years old at the time of cervical cancer diagnosis have a poorer prognosis than the elderly patients. Impact: To improve survival and quality of life, more intensive and novel multimodal treatments at the time of cervical cancer diagnosis should be considered in patients less than forty-five years, who can tolerate the side effects better.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.3289-3292
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• 2013

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to identify clinical profiles of patients with low risk of having bone metastases, for which bone scanning could be safely eliminated. Materials and Methods: This retrospective cross sectional study looked at prostate cancer patients seen in the Urology Departments in 2 tertiary centres over the 11 year period starting from January 2000 to May 2011. Patient demographic data, levels of PSA at diagnosis, Gleason score for the biopsy core, T-staging as well as the lymph node status were recorded and analysed. Results: 258 men were included. The mean age of those 90 men (34.9%) with bone metastasis was $69.2{\pm}7.3$ years. Logistic regression found that PSA level (P=0.000) at diagnosis and patient's nodal-stage (P=0.02) were the only two independent variables able to predict the probability of bone metastasis among the newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients. Among thowse with a low PSA level less than 20ng/ml, and less than 10ng/ml, bone metastasis were detected in 10.3% (12 out of 117) and 9.7% (7 out of 72), respectively. However, by combining PSA level of 10ng/ml or lower, and nodal negative as the two criteria to predict negative bone scan, a relatively high negative predictive value of 93.8% was obtained. The probability of bone metastasis in prostate cancer can be calculated with this formula: -1.069+0.007(PSA value, ng/ml)+1.021(Nodal status, 0 or 1)=x Probability of bone metastasis=$2.718^x/1+2.718^x$. Conclusion: Newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients with a PSA level of 10ng/ml or lower and negative nodes have a very low risk of bone metastasis (negative predictive value 93.8%) and therefore bone scans may not be necessary.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.89-97
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• 1994

Although bone scan is a highly sensitive test for detecting bone metastasis, its findings are often limited in specificity and cannot be used for assessing the bone marrow. Bone marrow scintigraphy may provide useful information but previous experience with radiolabelled colloid has been disappointing. Recently, $^{99m}Tc$ labeled anti-granulocyte monoclonal antibody (anti-NCA-95 MAb) has been introduced as a new bone marrow imaging agent. To evaluate the usefulness of $^{99m}Tc$ anti-NCA MAb bone marrow scans for detecting skeletal metastasis, bone marrow scans of 44 malignant tumor patients were evaluated and compared with bone scan findings. Bone scan showed abnormal lesions in 26(59%) cases, and 18 of these patients also had an abnormal bone marrow scan. Seven of the 8 patients who had normal bone marrow scan despite bone scan lesions were confirmed to be free from metastasis. There was one case with a marrow defect despite normal bone scan but the presence of metastasis was not determined due to loss of follow up. Bone scan demonstrated a total of 64 lesions while bone marrow scan showed 38 lesions. Fifty percent (32/64) of the bone scan lesions had matching marrow defects while the remaining 50% did not. Most of these non matched lesions were suggested to be nonspecific lesions such as rib fractures or degenerative change. Meanwhile bone marrow scan was able to detect 6 new lesions not detected by bone scan, bit metastasis in each lesion was not confirmed. Bone marrow scan was also helpful in assessing equivocal bone scan lesions to be of metastatic nature in 10 patients by demonstrating a matched marrow defect. Thus $^{99m}Tc$ anti-NCA MAb bone marrow scan can help exclude metastasis in patients with nonspecific bone scan lesions and may be able to detect metastatic lesions not seen with bone scan. It appears useful as a complementary study to bone scan in evaluating malignant tumor patients.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.143-145
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• 2012

Follicular thyroid cancer(FTC) accounts for about 10-15% of thyroid cancer. Distant metastasis is common, usually to lung, bone and brain. 71-years-old man visited neurosurgery outpatient department. He complained of recent 6kg weight loss, left upper extremity pain with weakness and back pain. The radiologic findings showed multiple bone metastasis including thoracic spine and left scapular resulting from FTC. There was a probable brain metastatic lesion on right temporal fossa. The core biopsy of thyroid and thoracic spine(T11) confirmed metastatic follicular carcinoma. Radioactive iodine therapy and radiotherapy was done following total thyroidectomy. We report a unique case of multiple bone metastasis from follicular carcinoma of thyroid with literature review.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.207-215
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• 2014

Multiple bone metastases are common manifestation of many malignant tumors such as lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma. Bone metastasis is secondary cancer in the bone, and it can lead to bone pain, fracture, and instability of the weight bearing bones, all of which may profoundly reduce physical activity and life quality. Treatment for bone metastasis is determined by multiple factors including pathology, performance status, involved site, and neurologic status. Treatment strategies for bone metastasis are analgesics, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. External beam radiotherapy has traditionally been an effective palliative treatment for localized painful bone metastasis. However, in some cases such as multiple bone metastases, especially osteoblastic bone metastasis originated from breast or prostate cancer, the radiopharmaceutical therapy using $^{89}Sr$, $^{186}Re$, $^{188}Re$, $^{153}Sm$ and $^{117m}Sn$ are also useful treatment option because of administrative simplicity (injection), few side effects, low risk of radiation exposure and high response rate. This article offers a concise explanation of the radiopharmaceutical therapy for multiple bone metastases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.937-938
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• 2016

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) appears an effective and safe treatment modality for spinal bone metastasis, which can enhance local control and improve quality of life. Life expectation, predicted fracture risk, localization, quality, size and number of metastasis and presence or absence of nerve compression seem to be important factors in decision-making for treatment. Further studies are needed to identify subsets of patient which will most benefit from treatment.