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Vol.38 No.2 contents | Japanese/English |
- Original Article -
Assisted Diagnosis of Lung Cancer Metastasis to the Bone Using a Bone Absorption Marker
Hiroyuki Nakamura, Kousuke Kashiwabara, Hisanaga Yagyu, Fumihiro Tsuchida, Yoshiyuki Kariya, Toshio Kiguchi and Ken MatsuokaFifth Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo Medical College
Generally, the diagnosis of bone metastasis of lung cancer is made according to results obtained through diagnostic imaging examinations including bone scintigraphy. These techniques, however, present various problems related to factors such as quantification difficulty, false positive reaction, cost, and inconvenience. Recently, new markers for bone metabolism have been developed and their application in diagnosing bone metastasis of lung cancer was studied. Compared to subjects with benign pulmonary diseases (3.7±1.1 ng/ml) and those with lung cancer without bone metastasis (4.6±1.6 ng/ml), patients with lung cancer complicated by bone metastasis showed a significantly higher ICTP level (9.0±5.2 ng/ml (p<0.05). Furthermore the ICTP level increased remarkably with progression of metastasis (p=0.012). As for the PICP level, no significant difference was recognized between the above three groups of patients, and progression of bone metastasis did not result in an increased PICP level. This indicated that PICP is not effective in making a diagnosis of bone metastasis of lung cancer or in evaluating the progression of bone metastasis. ICTP reflected bone metastasis and served as a cofactor for staging and evaluating the progression of bone metastasis. Moreover, these findings suggest that ICTP might be useful for monitoring.
key words: Lung cancer, Bone metastasis, Cross-linked carboxyterminal telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP), Carboxyterminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PICP)
Received: February 2, 1998
Accepted: March 2, 1998
JJLC 38 (2): 123-130, 1998
