Characteristics of radionucllde bone imaging in patients of lung cancer with bone metastases

Abstract

Objective To explore radionuclide bone imaging characteristics of lung cancer patients and evaluate the clinical significance of bone imaging in the diagnosis of lung cancer patients with bone metastases.Methods One hundred and seventy-seven patients with diagnosed lung cancer were examined by 99mTc -MDP bone imaging,and the symptoms,sites,quantity and pathological types of bone metastases were reviewed and analyzed.Results Total bone metastases ratio of lung cancer was 45.8%(81/177),and 85.2 % (69/81) patients had multiple bone metastases.There was a statistical significance of bone metastases in adenocarcinoma patients (69.0%,40/58),compared with patients of other types of lung cancer[squamous cell cancer (41.3%,19/46),small cell cancer ( 32.5%,13/40),undifferentiated carcinoma ( 27.3%,9/33)](P＜0.05).Bone metastases happened in 526 places: thoracic bones 212 places (40.3%),vertebras 168 places (31.9%),pelvic bones 73 places (13.9%),extremities 62 places (11.8%),and skull 11 places (2.1%).Conclusions Multiple bone metastases is more frequent in lung cancer patients.The most frequent metastatic sites are thoracic bones and vertebras.Bone metastases of adenocarcinoma is more easily than other types of lung cancer.All the patients with lung cancer should perform radionuclide bone scan,which is significant for staging,selecting therapy methods and the evaluating prognosis of the disease. Key words: Lung neoplasms; Radionuclide imaging; Neoplasm metastasis