Managing bone complications of solid tumors

Bone metastases are a common occurrence in patients with breast cancer, lung cancer and prostate cancer. Bone metastases cause considerable morbidity including pain, impaired mobility, pathologic fracture, spinal cord or nerve root compression, bone marrow infiltration and hypercalcemia of malignancy. These complications result from the derangement of normal bone metabolism that arise from interactions between factors originating in tumor cells and others originating in the microenvironment of the bone. Fortunately, there is an increasing array of treatment options for the skeletal complications associated with bone metastases arising from breast, lung, and prostate cancer. The goals of treatment for such skeletal complications are to relieve pain and reduce the risk of fracture. Traditional therapies to treat skeletal malignancies include radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy. In recent years, bisphosphonates have become the treatment of choice because of their ability to reduce bone resorption, leading to decreases in hypercalcemia, new osteolytic lesions, and fractures, thereby ameliorating pain and improving quality of life.