REVIEW ARTICLES  THE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM
Guest Editors: Freeman L. M., Bombardieri E. 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine 2002 June;46(2):152-9

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

A review of the efficacy of bone scanning in prostate and breast cancer

O’Sullivan J. M., Cook G. J. R.

Department of Clinical Oncology *Department of Nuclear Medicine Institute of Cancer Research, Royal Marsden Hospital Sutton, Surrey, UK

Bone scin­tig­ra­phy has pro­vid­ed val­u­able ­data in the assess­ment and man­age­ment of neo­plas­tic dis­ease ­since ­being ­first ­described in the ear­ly 1960s. There ­have ­been ­many devel­op­ments in imag­ing tech­niques and radio­phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals ­over the ­years allow­ing ­more reli­able detec­tion of met­a­stat­ic ­spread to ­bone. Other imag­ing modal­ities are ­also evolv­ing ­roles in the detec­tion of met­a­stat­ic ­spread includ­ing computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and positron emission tomography (PET). Despite ­this, iso­tope ­bone ­scans con­tin­ue to ­have a cen­tral ­role in detec­tion and sur­veil­lance of ­bone metas­ta­ses in ­breast and pros­tate can­cer. Paralleling devel­op­ments in imag­ing ­there ­have ­been enor­mous chang­es in the treat­ment ­options avail­able for can­cers of the ­breast and pros­tate ­that ­have metas­ta­sised to ­bone. Bone spe­cif­ic treat­ments includ­ing radio­nu­clides and bisphos­pho­nates as ­well as ­high ­dose chem­o­ther­a­py pro­vide poten­tial improve­ment in dis­ease con­trol. There is ­also evi­dence ­that ear­li­er treat­ment of ­bone metas­ta­ses may pro­long sur­vi­val. This increas­es the ­need for effi­cient meth­ods of detec­tion and mon­i­tor­ing of dis­ease. In ­this arti­cle we dis­cuss the effi­ca­cy of ­bone scin­tig­ra­phy ­in breast and pros­tate can­cer ­from the ­point of ­view of stag­ing, system­at­ic fol­low-up of asymp­to­mat­ic ­patients, eval­u­a­tion of symp­to­mat­ic ­patients and the assess­ment of ­response to ther­a­py.