Bone scanning in patients with breast carcinoma. Should it be a routine examination in every stage group?

Skeletal imaging using radionuclides has proved to be a sensitive method for the detection of early bony metastases from breast carcinoma. Recent studies have found a relatively low rate of abnormal scans in patients with Stage I and II breast cancers, and therefore it is open to question whether bone scanning should be part of the preoperative evaluation of any patient prior to breast surgery. We reviewed our experience with bone scans in 329 patients out of 406 histologically proven breast cancer patients to determine if any or all patients should have this procedure done routinely prior to breast surgery.