Abstract:

Objective To investigate the application of bone scintigraphy in therapy response monitoring and prognosis prediction in patients with bone metastasis from lung cancer and prostate cancer. Methods Whole-body bone scintigraphy was performed in 40 patients with lung cancer and 31 patients with prostate cancer one month before systematic therapy and no less than 3 months after treatment. The changes of bone metastasis lesions were observed before and after treatment, and the correlation of bone metastasis with therapy response was explored. Survival rates were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method, and prognostic factors for survival were analysed by Log-rank test and Cox regression model. Results The therapeutic effect of bone metastasis in clinical therapy responders in primary tumors (59.68%, 37/62) was significantly better than that in clinical therapy non-responders in primary tumors (40.32%, 25/62)(P<0.05). The 1-year and 2-year cumulative survival rates of patients with bone metastasis from lung cancer were 54.5% and 22.6% respectively, and those of patients with bone metastasis from prostate cancer were 87.3% and 72.3% respectively. Both univariate analysis and multivariate analysis indicated that tumor type and duration of bone metastasis were related to survival rates of patients with bone metastasis from lung cancer and prostate cancer (P<0.05). Cox regression analysis revealed that pathological type, extent of disease before treatment and duration of bone metastasis were prognostic factors in patients with bone metastasis from lung cancer, and duration of bone metastasis was the prognostic factor in patients with bone metastasis from prostate cancer. Conclusion Whole-body bone scintigraphy provides more abundant and exact information in therapy response monitoring and prognosis prediction in patients with bone metastasis from lung cancer and prostate cancer.

Key words: bone scintigraphy, bone metastasis, therapy response monitoring, prognosis, lung cancer, prostate cancer