Clinical and radiographic correlations in breast cancer patients with osseous metastases.

Serial metastatic bone series on 12 patients with skeletal metastases from carcinoma of breast were studied. Changes in the clinical and radiographic parameters of the patients were correlated. Patients were all treated on a research protocol evaluating "medical adrenalectomy" with aminoglutethimide or surgical adrenalectomy. Seventeen clinical changes were noted in twelve patients. Sixteen of these observations demonstrated positive clinical correlations with concurrent skeletal radiographs. A lytic bone pattern correlated clinically with progressive tumor growth. A blastic bone pattern was present when objective clinical data indicated disease remission.