Burden of metastatic bone disease from genitourinary malignancies

Abstract

Bone metastases are common among patients with stage IV genitourinary cancers. Most patients with bone metastases develop at least one debilitating and potentially life-limiting skeletal-related event. These events are associated with increased medical expenses and decreased quality of life. Current guidelines recommend screening for bone metastases in men with high-risk prostate cancer, but guidance for screening and treatment of bone metastases from genitourinary cancers varies by country and setting. Several bisphosphonates have been evaluated in the advanced genitourinary cancer setting. Zoledronic acid has demonstrated efficacy in significantly reducing the risk of skeletal-related events in patients with bone metastases from a broad range of solid tumors including prostate, renal and bladder cancers, and is recommended for preserving bone health.

Keywords::

• bisphosphonates
• bone metastases
• genitourinary cancer
• skeletal-related events
• targeted therapy

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Ronald M Bukowski has received honoraria and consultancy fees from Novartis, Pfizer, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech and Roche. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Financial support for medical editorial assistance was provided by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (NJ, USA). We thank Rosemary E Teresi, ProEd Communications, Inc., for her medical editorial assistance with this manuscript.