Clodronate Therapy of Metastatic Bone Disease in Patients with Prostatic Carcinoma

Abstract

More than 80% of patients with prostatic cancer have skeletal metastasis (Galasko 1981; Abrams et al. 1980). Although hormonal treatment can induce remission of some length, the final outcome is frequently progressive skeletal disease, despite orchiectomy and/or continuous hormone therapy. At this stage, the efficacy of cytotoxic drugs is limited (Posner et al. 1977) and radiation therapy is used only in persons with epidural spinal cord compression. High-dose corticosteroids can produce a short-lasting reduction in symptoms (Yagoda 1983), which should be ascribed to a diminution of the inflammatory reaction around the metastatic lesion.