title: Bone marrow micrometastasis in breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several studies have demonstrated that bone marrow micrometastasis in patients with breast cancer is an independent prognostic factor for systemic recurrence and poorer survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review describes the detection and clinical significance of micrometastatic cells in bone marrow, and examines the correlation between such micrometastasis and established clinicopathological prognostic factors. The relevant English language literature on bone marrow micrometastasis in breast cancer was searched via Medline (1975-2002), cross-referencing with key articles on the subject.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The balance of evidence favours the hypothesis that bone marrow micrometastasis impacts on disease-free and overall survival. Further prospective studies are required to examine this in greater detail, with particular reference to early node-negative breast cancer and the value of adjuvant systemic therapy in patients with bone marrow micrometastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozbas
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dafydd
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Purushotham
mesh_terms: D001856:Bone Marrow Examination; D019046:Bone Marrow Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis