Skeletal-related events in urological cancer patients with bone metastasis: a multicenter study in Japan.

Objective: To investigate the incidence of skeletal-related events (SRE) in urological cancer patients with bone metastases in Japan.

Methods: Five hundred eleven patients with urological cancer and documented bone metastases treated from January 2003 to April 2008 in ten Japanese institutions were included in a retrospective analysis. Type and incidence of SRE (fracture, radiotherapy, spinal cord compression, surgery, hypercalcemia, and bone pain) were determined from patient medical records.

Results: The overall incidence of SRE, including 'pain', was 61%. The most common event was radiotherapy for bone metastases, with an incidence of 31%. The overall incidence of events seemed to be similar among Japanese and Western patients with prostate cancer and renal cell carcinoma when comparing data with previously published reports. Nevertheless, a much lower incidence of fracture (19.1%) was observed in Japanese renal cell carcinoma patients.

Conclusions: The overall incidence of SRE in Japanese urological cancer patients with bone metastasis was similar to that in Western patients, but the incidence of fracture was lower in Japanese renal cancer patients.