The distribution of skeletal metastases in breast and pulmonary cancer: concise communication.

In a review of all radionuclide bone scans performed in a 3-mo period, 318 patients with established tumor diagnosis were studied. In this tumor population the incidence of skeletal metastases was statistically similar (p = 0.7), and regional distribution of lesion involvement was, in decreasing order, thorax, spine, pelvis, limbs, and skull. In the two largest tumor groups (breast and lung) the regional distribution of metastases was not different when examined for both the presence and the number of lesions (p greater than 0.1). In particular, the incidence of rib metastases was similar( p greater than 0.99) as was their frequency distribution (0.78). Indeed, the frequency distribution of rib metastases was similar for all major tumor categories (p = 0.83).