Metastatic bone tumors. Nonsurgical treatment. Outcome and survival.

Of 683 (16.1%) consecutive patients investigated from October 1984 to December 1985, 110 had various malignant tumors and secondary bone involvement. In 82 of 110 patients (74.5%), the primary tumor was located in the breast, and the percentage of clinical and radiographic objective responses (OR) of their bone lesions (42.7% and 22.8%, respectively) was higher than for cancer in other sites (clinical OR, 21.4%; radiographic OR, 15.8%). The average survival time of 82 breast cancer patients was 87.4 months, or 38 months from the diagnosis of the bone metastases. Of the 110 patients with bone metastases, 60 patients (54.5%) had secondary spinal involvement. The clinical and radiographic OR (38.4% and 30.2%) were better in the patients with vertebral metastases than in the patients with bone metastases in other sites (clinical OR, 36%; radiographic OR, 9.1%). The average survival time of the patients with vertebral involvement was 99.4 months, or 40.4 months from the time of diagnosis of the bone metastases. From the results obtained, in terms of OR and survival for patients with bone metastases, early and aggressive treatment should be considered to improve the patients' life quality.

Experimental studies on peripheral nerve repair following early or delayed suture.

Early suture of the sciatic nerve in rats was compared with delayed suture performed after 2 weeks. The distal tract of the nerve was studied morphologically using semifine sections and computerised measurements of the number and diameters of regenerated fibres, and electrophysiologically by the measurement of nerve velocity conduction. The morphological examination did not reveal any substantial difference, while the velocity conduction tests showed better reinnervation following early suture.