Abstract:
Objective:To analyze the clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer patients with bone metastasis and determine the features of metastasis and treatment, as well as the prognostic factors in these patients. Methods: The clinical and pathological features of 183 bone metastatic advanced breast cancer patients who had received bisphosphonates (BPs) for ≥6 months between January 2005 and April2013 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The features of bone metastasis, skeletal-related events (SREs), and characteristics of treatment and prognostic factors were also studied. On the basis of the BP type, patients were divided into three groups with pamidronate, zoledronate, or pamidronate sequential zoledronate therapies. Results:Thoracic vertebrae and ribs were the most common sites of bone metastases. The median time from bone metastasis to the occurrence of first SRE was 4.2 months. SREs occurred in51 .9% (95 /183) of the patients, in which the accumulative total number of SREs was 167 times. Out of the total 167 times, 110 occurred 1 year after bone metastasis, and bone irradiation ranked first among the therapies for SREs. The incidence rates of SREs after treatments with different BPs were compared, and no statistical difference was found among the three groups ( P>0.05 ). The median overall survival after bone metastases of all the 183 patients was 43 .1 months. In a multivariate analysis, the hormone receptor status, disease-free survival, and visceral and vertebral metastases were the independent predictors for the survival of bone metastatic breast cancer patients (P<0.05 ). Conclusion: Thoracic vertebrae and ribs were the most common sites of bone metastases in breast cancer patients. SREs mainly occurred 1 year after bone metastases, and bone irradiation was the main therapy for SREs. The negative hormone receptor status, short disease-free survival, and visceral and vertebral metastases were independent factors of poor prognosis for the survival of bone metastatic breast cancer patients.