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Relation between pain and skeletal metastasis in patients with prostate or breast cancer
Author(s) -
Levren Gabriella,
Sadik May,
Gjertsson Peter,
Lomsky Milan,
Michanek Annika,
Edenbrandt Lars
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
clinical physiology and functional imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.608
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1475-097X
pISSN - 1475-0961
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-097x.2010.00999.x
Subject(s) - medicine , prostate cancer , breast cancer , bone scintigraphy , prostate , cancer , metastasis , bone pain , scintigraphy , bone metastasis , radiology
Summary The aim of this study was to examine the relation between pain and bone metastases in a group of patients with prostate or breast cancer that had been referred for bone scintigraphy. Whole‐body bone scans, anterior and posterior views obtained with a dual detector gamma camera were studied from 101 consecutive patients who had undergone scintigraphy (600 MBq Tc‐99m MDP) because of suspected bone metastatic disease. At the time of the examination, all patients were asked whether they felt any pain or had recently a trauma. This information was correlated with the classifications regarding the presence or absence of bone metastases made by a group of three experienced physicians. In patients with prostate cancer, we found metastases in 47% (18/38) of the patients with pain, but only in 12% (2/17) of the patients without pain (p = 0·01). In patients with breast cancer, on the other hand, metastases were more common in patients without pain (71%; 10/14) than in patients with pain (34%; 11/32) (p = 0·02). In conclusion, a significant relation between pain and skeletal metastases could be found in patients with prostate cancer and a reverse relation in patients with breast cancer.