title: The role of bisphosphonates in metastatic breast cancer.
abstract: The American Society of Clinical Oncology has recently developed guidelines for the use of bisphosphonates in breast cancer. Highlights of these guidelines are reviewed. Specific issues addressed included when in the course of disease should treatment be started, the duration of therapy, the role of bisphosphonates in pain control, their safety, and current estimates of their cost effectiveness. Although intravenous bisphosphonates, primarily pamidronate, have been shown to reduce the frequency of skeletal-related complications in women with known lytic bone metastases from breast cancer, numerous major areas of clinical importance related to their use have not been studied and are highlighted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Massey Cancer Center, Richmond, VA 23298-0170, USA. hillner@hsc.vcu.edu
authors.forename: B E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Hillner
mesh_terms: D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000556:secondary*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D004164:Diphosphonates / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010148:Intractable Pain / Q000517:prevention & control; D010166:Palliative Care; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
chemical_list: D004164:Diphosphonates