[Breast cancer with osteoblastic bone metastasis treated successfully with bisphosphonate: a case report]

A 52-year-old woman with painful osteoblastic bone metastasis received pamidronate therapy which resulted in marked pain relief with a normalization of elevated tumor marker levels. However, the patient complained of increased pain after the 26th pamidronate infusion. Although a change from pamidronate to alendronate therapy did not relieve bone pain, a second change from alendronate to incadronate therapy resulted in pain relief with a decrease in re-elevated tumor marker levels. These findings suggest that bisphosphonate therapy is effective against osteoblastic bone metastasis in breast cancer, and that sequential therapy with bisphosphonates may be effective against bone metastasis in some cases.