Background: The distribution of bone metastases on a bone scan has not been duly considered when assessing the prognosis of metastatic prostate cancer.
Methods: The medical records of 76 patients with newly diagnosed, untreated metastatic prostate cancer were reviewed. According to the distribution of bone metastases on the initial bone scan, we divided the patients into three groups: Group I (having bone metastases exclusively within the pelvis and the lumbar spine), Group II (having bone metastases exclusively outside these bones), and Group III (having bone metastases in both areas).
Results: Among the responders to androgen deprivation, those in Group I survived significantly longer than did those in Groups II or III. Because the extent of the disease and the distribution of histologic differentiation in Groups I and II were similar, the results indicate that the presence of bone metastases outside the pelvis and the lumbar spine is predictive of short survival time. This prediction was not possible when the extent of disease (EOD) grading system was used.
Conclusion: The distribution of bone metastases on the initial bone scan should be considered as a variable for the prognostic stratification of patients with metastatic prostate cancer.