strontium-radioisotopes and Osteolysis

Bone is one of the organs to which cancer metastasizes most frequently. However, it is not a vital organ, therefore, survival after the occurrence of osseous metastasis is relatively favorable. Improvements of medical treatment bring prolonged survival to patients with osseous metastases. But this makes us to recognize the importance of quality of life (QOL) due to several factors, including pain. It is important for oncologists to know how to deal with such painful osseous metastases, as pain relief may enable patients to live their remaining lives to the fullest. Strontium-89 (89Sr) has been used worldwide as in Japan, while being reported to have positive effects on pain relief and QOL improvement in patients with osseous metastases. This review paper is aimed to present not only the history, roles, and medical characters of 89Sr, but also new aspects, such as how to use bone turnover markers, which location of osseous metastases is suitable for effective use of 89Sr.

Topics: Bone Neoplasms; Combined Modality Therapy; Humans; Neoplasm Metastasis; Osteolysis; Pain; Strontium Radioisotopes

Tumor-induced hypercalcemia and tumor-induced osteolysis are essentially due to a marked increase in osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, although the kidneys play an important contributory role in the genesis of tumor-induced hypercalcemia. Parathyroid hormone-like protein plays an essential role in tumor-induced hypercalcemia, and maybe in tumor-induced osteolysis, but other factors could also be responsible for the osteoclast activation secondary to the neoplastic infiltration of the skeleton. Treatment of tumor-induced hypercalcemia essentially consists of volume repletion and administration of potent anti-osteolytic drugs. The bisphosphonate pamidronate is particularly useful for that matter and a dose of 1.0 to 1.5 mg/kg can normalize serum calcium in about 90% of hypercalcemic cancer patients. The apparently low response rate of bone metastases to systemic antineoplastic therapy seems to essentially reflect the relative insensitivity of our current methods for assessing response in tumor-induced osteolysis. Newly developed biochemical markers of bone turnover could be particularly useful for that matter. Bisphosphonates are the most potent of the available inhibitors of osteoclast activity. Prolonged administration of oral pamidronate could reduce by almost one half the complications of tumor-induced osteolysis, and repeated bisphosphonate infusions could induce a dramatic relief of bone pain in one third and a sclerosis of lytic lesions in one fourth of the cases. These data must, however, be confirmed in randomized, blinded trials and many questions remain unanswered concerning the optimal therapeutic schemes. Medical therapy of tumor-induced osteolysis by noncytotoxic means has nevertheless become a reality.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Bone Neoplasms; Bone Resorption; Calcitonin; Combined Modality Therapy; Diphosphonates; Etidronic Acid; Humans; Hypercalcemia; Hypocalcemia; Osteoclasts; Osteolysis; Pain; Pamidronate; Strontium Radioisotopes

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Bone Neoplasms; Diphosphates; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Osteolysis; Radiography; Radionuclide Imaging; Ribs; Strontium Radioisotopes; Technetium; Technetium Tc 99m Pyrophosphate; Time Factors

Malignant disease very often spreads to the skeleton. This is particularly true for carcinomas of the breast, the lungs, the prostate, and the thyroid. Knowledge of the state of the skeleton in these disorders is therefore desirable since patient management will largely depend on the early detection of bony deposits. Primary bone disease often spreads to soft tissue (lungs), and the early detection of this may alter significantly the therapeutic approach to the primary lesion. Traditionally, X-ray skeletal surveys and serum enzyme measurements provide indices which can be used in the staging of these disorders. Complementary techniques such as mammography, xeroradiography, thermography, and radionuclide imaging have been used to provide further relevant information. A number of benign bone diseases need early assessment in order to institute the best form of treatment. It is of importance to assess the circulation in localized areas of bone and to predict the appearance of avascular necrosis, to understand the healing mechanisms involved in fractures, and to predict the outcome of bone grafting. In this paper the clinical role of bone scanning is reviewed, particular attention being given to the recent advances brought about by the introduction of the 99mTc compounds. It is important that the non-specialist should be aware of the great improvement in the results obtained and in the help they can give him in deciding on the best management of each patient as an individual.

Topics: Bone and Bones; Bone Diseases; Bone Neoplasms; Fluorine; Humans; Kidney Diseases; Neoplasm Metastasis; Osteolysis; Phosphates; Radioisotopes; Radionuclide Imaging; Strontium Isotopes; Strontium Radioisotopes; Technetium

Topics: Bone Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms; Feces; Female; Hodgkin Disease; Humans; Injections, Intravenous; Kinetics; Male; Neoplasm Metastasis; Osteolysis; Osteoporosis; Prostatic Neoplasms; Radionuclide Imaging; Spinal Neoplasms; Strontium; Strontium Radioisotopes; Time Factors