A narrowing range of bone scan in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients: A retrospective comparative study

The objective of the following study is to clarify a suitable group whereby a bone scan could be spared at the initial staging of prostate cancer, we wished to identify the possible relationship between bone metastasis and clinical and pathological parameters including serum total prostate specific antigen (PSA) concentration, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), biopsy Gleason Score (GS), and percentage of pathological cores.

We reviewed the results of 220 bone scintigraphies, which were done between January 1, 2011 and June 30, 2013 in patients with newly diagnosed prostate cancer. These parameters were evaluated together with standard clinicopathological data to determine the prediction ability of the bone scan by univariate and multivariate analyses.

Bone metastases were seen in 44 patients of all 220 patients (20%, 95% confidence interval, 17-24%). In univariate analysis, PSA and biopsy GS were useful in predicting the bone scan result, but ALP and percentage of pathological cores was not. In multivariate analysis, the single most useful parameter in predicting the bone scan result was PSA (P < 0.001).

A bone scan seems to be impractical in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients with serum PSA level <20 ng/ml and GS up to seven and pre-treatment PSA is the best predictor of the need for the bone scan according to results of this study.