oligometastatic disease
 

we have previously speculated that if they followed more closely and found limited disease sooner and treated it more effectively/expediciously, perhaps there would be improvement in the prognosis statistics for those with Stage IV

Here is a small. but hopeful study out of Japan:

Anticancer Res. 2008 Nov-Dec;28(6B):3929-31.

Value of high-dose radiation therapy for isolated osseous metastasis in breast cancer in terms of oligo-recurrence.

Niibe Y, Kuranami M, Matsunaga K, Takaya M, Kakita S, Hara T, Sekiguchi K, Watanabe M, Hayakawa K.
Department of Radiology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1, Kitasato, Sagamihrara, Kanagawa 228-8555, Japan. joe-n@nkg.odn.ne.jp
BACKGROUND: For many years, patients with recurrent or distant metastatic cancer have been considered to be at the last stage of their lives because it was considered that the cancer had spread throughout the whole body. However, the development of methods for the early detection of recurrence or distant metastases allows the detection of limited site recurrence or single organ metastases, called oligometastases or oligo-recurrence. Additional local treatment for oligometastatic or oligo-recurrent lesions such as radiation therapy could be efficacious. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate radiation therapy for solitary osseous metastasis of breast cancer in terms of oligometastasis and oligo-recurrence. PATIENTS AND METHODS: One hundred and thirteen breast cancer patients were treated with radiation therapy for osseous metastases at Kitasato University Hospital, Japan between January 1998 and March 2003. Out of them, seven patients had solitary osseous metastases with primary and other sites controlled. These patients were registered in the current study, three had lumber spine metastases, three pelvic and one thoracic spine. The median time between the initial treatment of the primary lesions and diagnosis of the osseous metastases was 44 months (range: 10-95 months). The median total radiation dose was 46 Gy (30-50 Gy; BED: biological effective dose, 39-60 Gy10). RESULTs: The median follow-up time was 40 months (range: 11-80 months). All the patients were alive at the last follow-up. Only one patient relapsed in terms of pain from the osseous metastasis. This patient was treated with 30 Gy (BED 39 Gy10) irradiation, the lowest total dose among the seven patients. CONCLUSION: Radiation therapy for solitary osseous metastasis might be efficacious and moreover, high dose could be useful for long-term pain relief of osseous metastasis.
PMID: 19192651

Lani - You are fantastic. Thank you for all of the incredibly helpful posts on scientific studies and advances in BC treatment. I personally owe you credit for the Boswellia recommendation. Thank you, thank you, for all that you do.

Courtney
 

You are VERY welcome

am I reading this wrong?
 

Maybe I missed something here, or they forgot to mention it due to language issues - but there doesn't even seem to be a control group. How can they draw any conclusions without a control group?

I have ordered a book, "Know Your Chances", which is supposed to be an understandable discussion and explanation of how to make sense of health-related statistics. I think everyone who pays any attention to research should have this basic understanding. If we rely on media headlines, or even many abstracts, we will be mis-informed.

http://www.amazon.com/Know-Your-Chan...4542365&sr=1-1

Man! tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/ckedls