[Oligometastatic bone disease. Can limited metastatic bone disease be cured? Is there room for local ablative treatments?]

Abstract

Solitary metastases have been reported in up to 30% of cases in imaging series. Local treatment aims at consolidating the injured bone and to prevent neurologic complications. Since the prognosis of bony metastatic disease is about 30 months and includes some long survivors, the multisdisciplinary committee in charge of the patient should ask the question and decide on the type of radical/ablative intervention in case of oligometastases. A literature search was performed using MESH terms (bone, metastases, radiotherapy, radiology, cement, radiofrequency ablation, chemoembolisation). Local ablative treatments can yield symptomatic relief and local control rates of about 90%. Stereotactic hypofractionated irradiation and cementoplasty are increasingly used. In conclusion, local ablative treatment of bony oligometastases is an efficient treatment. Its potential impact on survival remains to be demonstrated prospectively in clinical trials.