Osseous metastases in prostatic cancer with reference to histologic type and local tumour stage

In prostatic cancer the frequency of osseous metastases - detected earliest by bone scintigraphy - amounts to 21.8% at the time of histological verification of the primary tumour. This frequency depends on the histological type of the prostatic carcinoma and yields 10.5% in uniform adenocarcinomas and 40.4% in pluriform carcinomas. The rate of metastases in the uniform adenocarcinomas rises with increasing histological dedifferentiation. The percentage of prostatic carcinomas with pluriform pattern in comparison with uniform adenocarcinomas rises markedly, corresponding to the local tumour extent (T2 = 36.4%, T3 = 52.2%, T4 = 61.1%). For the purpose of stage-related therapy of prostatic cancer, histological grading and clinical staging, including bone scanning, are absolutely essential.