Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul 16;5(1):1095.
doi: 10.1186/s40064-016-2741-0. eCollection 2016.

Bone Scan Index predicts skeletal-related events in patients with metastatic breast cancer

Ai Idota  1 , Masataka Sawaki  2 , Akiyo Yoshimura  2 , Masaya Hattori  2 , Yoshitaka Inaba  3 , Isao Oze  4 , Toyone Kikumori  5 , Yasuhiro Kodera  6 , Hiroji Iwata  2
Affiliations

Bone Scan Index predicts skeletal-related events in patients with metastatic breast cancer

Ai Idota et al. Springerplus. .

Abstract

Background: Bone Scan Index (BSI) expresses tumor burden in bone as a percentage of total skeletal mass, but its significance for metastatic breast cancer patients is unknown. We investigated whether baseline BSI is associated with skeletal-related events (SREs) or survival and identified the cut-off BSI score for predicting SREs in metastatic breast cancer patients.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 144 patients with bone metastatic breast cancer. Bone scan examinations were performed and BSI was calculated using the Bonenavi(®) automated method. All patients received standard medical treatment for metastatic breast cancer. For bone metastasis prophylaxis, bisphosphonates were infused initially with analgesics as needed. We defined SRE as either bony, requiring intervention (surgery and/or radiotherapy) for pain or prevention of fracture, or spinal cord compression. The rates of SRE and overall survival (OS) were evaluated according to baseline BSI, and the cut-off score of BSI for predicting SRE in metastatic breast cancer patients was identified.

Results: Thirty-three patients (25.6 %) had SREs. The median BSI was 1.08 % (inter-quartile range 0.50-3.23 %). To identify the cut-off BSI score for predicting SRE, we performed sensitivity analysis to check P-value at every 0.1 BSI interval (0.4-2.4) by multiple-variable proportional hazard analysis. A BSI cut-off point of 1.4 % showed the lowest P value. Patients with BSI scores ≥1.4 had a significantly higher rate of SRE than those with lower BSI (P = 0.022). However there was no significant difference in OS.

Conclusion: BSI may predict SRE in patients with metastatic breast cancer. A high BSI value (≥1.4) at diagnosis of bone metastasis may be a predictor of SREs in bone metastatic breast cancer patients.

Keywords: Bone Scan Index; Bone metastases; Breast cancer; Skeletal-related events.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Sensitivity analysis for SRE by Cox regression model. A value of 1.4 for BSI showed the lowest P value in multivariate analysis
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan–Meier curves for SRE (BSI cut off = 1.4). Patients with BSI ≥ 1.4 had significantly more SREs than those with BSI < 1.4 (P = 0.022). The median follow up time for SRE was 2.04 years
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Kaplan–Meier curves for OS (BSI cut off = 1.4). It did not show any significance at that cutoff point (P = 0.436). The median follow up time for OS was 2.50 years
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Coleman RE, Rubens RD. The clinical course of bone metastases from breast cancer. Br J Cancer. 1987;55:61–66. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1987.13. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Colombié M, Lacombe M, Rusu D, et al. Bone involvement quantification using automated Bone Scan Index in therapeutic follow-up of metastatic breast cancer. J Nucl Med. 2013;54(Supplement 2):1439.
    1. Costa L, Major PP. Effect of bisphosphonates on pain and quality of life in patients with bone metastases. Nat Clin Pract Oncol. 2009;6:163–174. doi: 10.1038/ncponc1323. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Costelloe CM, Rohren EM, Madewell JE, et al. Imaging bone metastases in breast cancer: techniques and recommendations for diagnosis. Lancet Oncol. 2009;10:606–614. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(09)70088-9. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dennis ER, Jia X, Mezheritskiy IS, et al. Bone scan index: a quantitative treatment response biomarker for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2012;30:519–524. doi: 10.1200/JCO.2011.36.5791. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources