[The importance of the gammagraphic examination of the skeleton in the diagnostic and therapeutic strategy in carcinoma of the prostate].

Abstract

One hundred and sixty patients with the diagnosis of prostate cancer have been treated at the Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Oncology in Brno over the last 10 years. The present paper has been devoted to the diagnostics of skeleton by scintigraphy as compared with X-ray examination of bones. Scintiscanning of skeleton was performed on a gamma-graph Picker 500 i, 99mTc pyrophosphate was used and scintiscanning was performed in the usual examination regimen. The highest importance of this examination resides in the fact that the demonstration of bone metastases results, in most cases, in changing therapeutic procedure and thus significantly influences the course of the disease and the patient's fate. In the group of patients the authors detected metastases in the skeleton in 40% during the first examination of skeleton, sometime even after introducing the therapy. The results confirm the necessity of a complex skeleton examination before the onset of therapy in each patient with this kind of diagnosis.