Importance of skeleton scintigraphy for checking skeleton metastases

The clinical value of bone scanning for the follow up tumor patients with bone metastases was investigated in a retrospective study involving 115 patients, most of them with breast cancer. A total of 355 scans were evaluated. In 67% scintigraphy was found to correlate well with the patient's 'overall assessment', while 33% of the scans did not. The factors underlying this discrepancy were multiple: Early scintigraphy evidence of deterioration in progressive disease (6%); delayed scintigraphic evidence of improvement in remissions (4%); and progression of extra-osseous tumor manifestations (preferably pleural metastases) in clinically unchanged or improved bone metastases (15%). Compared to other parameters (subjectively experienced condition, physical examination, X-ray, laboratory parameters) bone scanning is a highly efficient method for monitoring the course of the disease in tumor patients with bone metastases. (Author)