The effects of radioisotope therapy and radiotherapy in subjects with breast cancer with bone metastases

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Metastatic bone disease is found in 80-90% of patients examined after death and is a serious problem in everyday practice. The aim of the study was the evaluation of the survival time of patients with bone metastases in relation to the prognostic group and applied treatment.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: The authors analyzed 84 patients treated in the Radiotherapy Division of Lower Silesian Oncology Centre during the years 1997-2004. Radioisotope treatment was conducted in the Department of Nuclear Medicine of the 4^th Military Clinical Hospital in Wrocław. The average age of the patients was 53.1 years. The women differed in staging at the moment of diagnosis. The patients were divided into two groups with different clinical prognoses. In addition to systemic treatment (biphosphonates, chemotherapy or hormonotherapy), 32 (38.1%) patients were treated with teletherapy and 20 (23.8%) underwent radioisotope therapy. In 32 (38.1%) patients both methods were applied. The analysis of results included the estimation of overall survival (OS) meaning the time of survival from the onset of disease to one of the end points. End points of the observation were defined by the authors as the patient’s death or last control visit. The Kaplan-Meier method was used.
RESULTS: The outcomes of the observation are closely connected with particular prognostic groups. The Kaplan-Meier’s diagrams presented here indicate that teletherapy combined with radioisotope therapy was the most beneficial for the patients with metastases in bones and other organs.
CONCLUSIONS: The best effects of the treatment measured by overall survival were obtained with combined treatment: radiotherapy and radioisotopes, in the group with bone and extra- skeletal metastases.