The skeletal metastatic complications of renal cell carcinoma

Of the 103 patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma 31 (30%) developed s ymptomatic radiologically confirmed skeletal metastases. These were typical ly lytic, predominantly affecting the axial skeleton and associated with co nsiderable skeletal morbidity. Solitary bone lesions occurred in 14 (45%) o f patients. The median survival of patients with bone metastases was 12 mon ths. Hypercalcaemia was common in patients both with (29%) and without (44% ) bone metastases. The number and rate of skeletal related events was simil ar to that seen from bone metastases from breast cancer. It would therefore be appropriate to evaluate the effectiveness of bisphosphonate treatment f or reducing skeletal morbidity in advanced renal cell cancer with bone meta stases.