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. 2013 Sep;54(5):1168-77.
doi: 10.3349/ymj.2013.54.5.1168.

Prognostic factors for patients with bone-only metastasis in breast cancer

Sung Gwe Ahn  1 , Hak Min Lee, Sang-Hoon Cho, Seung Ah Lee, Seung Hyun Hwang, Joon Jeong, Hy-De Lee
Affiliations

Prognostic factors for patients with bone-only metastasis in breast cancer

Sung Gwe Ahn et al. Yonsei Med J. 2013 Sep.

Abstract

Purpose: Bone is the most frequent site of metastasis among breast cancer patients. We investigated prognostic factors affecting survival following bone-only metastasis in breast cancer patients.

Materials and methods: The medical records of breast cancer patients who were treated and followed at Gangnam Severance Hospital retrospectively reviewed to identify patients with bone-only metastasis.

Results: The median time from the diagnosis of bone-only metastasis to the last follow-up or death was 55.2 [95% confidence interval (CI), 38.6-71.9] months. The Kaplan-Meier overall survival estimate at 10 years for all patients was 34.9%. In the multivariate Cox regression model, bisphosphonate treatment [hazard ratio=0.18; 95% CI, 0.07-0.43], estrogen receptor positivity (hazard ratio=0.51; 95% CI, 0.28-0.94), and solitary bone metastasis (hazard ratio=0.32; 95% CI, 0.14-0.72) were significantly associated with longer overall survival in the bone-only recurrence group. Among the treatment modalities, only bisphosphonate treatment was identified as a significant prognostic factor.

Conclusion: Identifying the factors influencing breast cancer mortality after bone-only metastasis will help clarify the clinical course and improve the treatment outcome for patients with breast cancer and bone-only metastasis. Bisphosphonates, as a significant prognostic factor, warrant further investigation.

Keywords: Breast neoplasm; bisphosphonate; bone metastses.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no financial conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Kaplan-Meier plot showing OS for all patients. OS, overall survival.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier plot showing OS stratified by (A) bisphosphonate treatment (log-rank test, p<0.001) (B) ER status (log-rank test, p=0.027) (C) the recurrence-free interval (log-rank test, p<0.001), and (D) the number of bone metastases (log-rank test, p<0.001). OS, overall survival; ER, estrogen; RFI, recurrence-free interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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