Bone secondaries in breast cancer: the solitary metastasis.

The bone scan findings of 160 consecutive cases of breast cancer metastatic to bone presenting to Guy's Hospital between 1982-1987 were retrospectively assessed for number and distribution of lesions. Twenty-one percent of patients relapsed with a solitary bone metastasis. The spine was the commonest site for both solitary (52% of cases) and multiple (87%) metastases. Solitary bone metastases are more common than previously thought.