Impact of Intensive Follow-up for Bone Metastasis on Characteristics and Prognosis of Chinese Breast Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Retrospective Study

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women, and the incidence rate is gradually increasing, accounts for the first place in the incidence of female malignant tumors. Bone metastasis is the most common distant metastatic site for breast cancer, accounting for approximately 70% of all patients with advanced breast cancer. About 26%-50% of breast cancer patients with primary metastases are bone. Autopsy results showed that the overall incidence of breast cancer bone metastasis was about 47%-85%.

Postoperative routine screening for bone metastases in breast cancer patients, whether domestic or foreign, is not recommended in most guidelines. These recommendations were based on two prospective randomized controlled trials in Italy in 1990s, indicated that a bone scan every six months or annually didn't provide a survival benefit to the patient. However, there were researches showing that about 11% of patients with asymptomatic breast cancer have bone metastases, suggesting that early screening might detect more patients with asymptomatic bone metastases. The meta-analysis also pointed out that early screening may prolong the disease-free survival of patients. Besides, the imaging techniques have advance rapidly and remarkably since then. New trials are needed to figure out whether imaging screening of asymptomatic patients should be routinely performed to detect more asymptomatic bone metastases needs further investigation.