Metastatic bone tumors in Ramathibodi Hospital, Thailand during 1985-90

The study was aimed to analyse the histologic typings of metastatic bone tumors, age of patients and skeletal distributions in Ramathibodi Hospital. There were 122 cases of metastatic bone tumors out of 217 cases of all malignant bone tumors as retrieved from the files of surgical records in the Department of Pathology, Ramathibodi Hospital from 1985 to 1990. Approximately 80 per cent of metastatic bone tumors were carcinomas of which adenocarcinoma was the most common and accounted for 44.3 per cent of all metastatic bone tumors. The most common site of biopsy which possibly reflects the skeletal distribution of metastases was the vertebra which accounted for 35 per cent. The average age of patients presenting with metastatic carcinomas was about 50 years which was comparable to those of other series. It was obvious that biopsy of metastatic lesions was helpful in narrowing the scope of investigation but could hardly define the primary sites without further investigations.