Bone scintigraphy in staging of newly diagnosed prostate cancer in regard of different risk groups

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common cancer in men over 50 years of age. Bone scintigraphy is still performed in many institutions at the time of primary diagnosis. We aimed to evaluate the role of bone scan in the primary staging of PC in regard of different risk groups. A retrospective analysis of bone scans in 296 patients (mean age 64±6 y) acquired at the time of primary diagnosis was performed in our institution. The median prostate specific antigen (PSA) was 6.73 ng/ml, all patients had a Gleason score of >5. Only 11/296 patients had a positive bone scan, 1 being in the intermediate risk group, 10 in the high-risk group and none in the low-risk group according to D’Amico classification. Our results support the few published studies that less than 10% of patients with newly diagnosed PC by biopsy would develop bone metastasis, all in the intermediate or high-risk groups. Therefore, a staging by bone scan can only be recommended in patients with intermediate or high-risk, or symptomatic patients only.