Conclusion
Issues and Opportunities for the Treating Physician
As the U.S. population ages, both the number of patients with cancer and the number presenting with bone metastases are expected to increase, challenging practicing physicians and our approaches to treatment. Recent advances in our understanding of the process of bone metastasis and treatment have provided treating physicians with greater opportunity to counsel their patients about the risk of developing bone metastases, and new therapies to possibly prevent their occurrence and to treat the disease. Clinical trials are ongoing to test new therapies to prevent and treat bone metastases, and information from these trials is being rapidly disseminated in clinical meetings as well as online and in the lay press.
Patients are more aware than they have ever been of these trials and will need informed physicians to help them navigate the wealth of information that will be available. More frequently, clinical trials are now utilizing physicians not based at academic centers to participate in trials and make these novel agents available to their patients. Thus, physicians need to be aware of new treatments for bone metastasis, be able to discuss the prevention and treatment of side effects of current and new therapies and their potential benefits and risks with their patients and, if possible, have their patients participate in clinical trials.