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Updated: Aug 4, 2026

Models of Bone Metastasis
Published on: September 4, 2012
Metastatic breast carcinoma to bone disguised by osteopoikilosis
J G Kennedy1, J R Donahue, H Aydin
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, A342, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Affiliate of Weil Cornell Medical School, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA. jgk1@hotmail.com
Abstract:
A case of metastatic lobular carcinoma of the breast in conjunction with osteopoikilosis is described. Widespread diffuse sclerotic bone lesions were identified on radiographs in a patient with breast carcinoma. In addition computed tomography demonstrated discrete spherical areas of increased density throughout the skeleton manifest typically by osteopoikilosis. No systemic symptoms were evident, blood parameters were normal and the lesions did not demonstrate any increased uptake of technetium on bone scan. An iliac crest bone biopsy, however, revealed metastatic disease in addition to osteopoikilosis. Conventional radiological investigations may not delineate metastasis on a background of bone dysplasia.
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