Response of skeletal metastases to systemic chemotherapy in patients with breast cancer

ABSTRACT

This prospective study was performed to evaluate the effect of systemic chemotherapy on skeletal metastases in breast cancer patients. Serum CA15-3 concentration was determined in 86 metastatic breast cancer patients in bone and correlated to whole skeletal scintigraphy. Fifteen patients with a normal level of CA15-3 [<28 u/ml] were excluded from the study. Also, a control group of 50 breast cancer patients after radical mastectomy with no evidence of local or metastatic deposits were also subjected to bone scintigraphy and serum CA15-3 concentration. Metastatic patients were classified into five groups according to the findings of bone scan from M0 [normal bone scan] to M4 [superscan]. This study suggested that CA15-3 could be a complementary marker in evaluating patients with metastatic breast cancer to bone before and shortly after initiating chemotherapy. It has the advantage of differentiating between disease progression and flare reaction