Management of Bone Metastases in Patients With Prostate Cancer
Introduction Over 80% of patients with advanced prostate cancer are affected by bone metastasis, an incurable progression of the disease that accounts for a vast majority of disease-related mortality and is associated with significant morbidity. In addition, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), the mainstay of treatment for advanced prostate cancer, increases fracture risk and may contribute to skeletal morbidity. The combination of these factors makes bone metastases one of the most wide-reaching and difficult processes to address in patients with prostate cancer. Because the precise molecular and cellular mechanisms of the metastatic process in prostate cancer are still poorly understood, there remains an unmet need for effective strategies to prevent the progression of disease or, at the very least, to diminish the likelihood for development of additional metastases. Among the various, mostly palliative, treatments used to treat bone metastases, bone-targeted approaches using bisphos...