title: An evaluation of radionuclide bone scanning and liver ultrasonography for staging breast cancer.
abstract: The use of nuclear bone scanning and liver ultrasonography to stage breast cancer is an established practice in many hospitals. A 3 year prospective study was undertaken to assess the usefulness of these two investigations. Three hundred and fifty-eight patients were analysed: 133 had stage I disease, 188 were stage II and 37 were stage III. Bone scans were performed on 339 (94.7%) patients; 302 had stage I or stage II disease; and 37 were stage III. Bone scans were positive for metastases in only 0.9% of stage I and II patients but were positive in 16.2% of patients with stage III disease. None of the 309 (96.2%) stage I or stage II patients who had an ultrasound scan had any liver metastases detected whereas positive scans were obtained in 5.4% of stage III patients. It can be concluded that the incidence of demonstrable bone or liver metastases in stage I and stage II breast cancer patients is so low that the use of routine scanning can be abandoned.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Queen's University of Belfast, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gilliland
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Odling-Smee
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Spence
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000556:secondary; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000556:secondary; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D009660:Northern Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity