Assessment of response to systemic therapy focusing on metastatic bone disease

The 25-year-old rules for response evaluation developed by UICC and WHO still remain the cornerstone for response evaluation and documentation of treatment effects from systemic cancer treatment. Often, however, plain radiographs are insensitive to changes in tumour growth and disagree with clinical findings. Other methods of evaluation, such as biochemical markers and newer imaging technology may provide valuable additional information in these cases.