Alkaline Phosphatase; Total Serum Alkaline Phosphatase (alp) as a Predictor of Bone Metastasis among Patients Having Carcinoma Breast at a Tertiary Care Hospital

.. Background: This study was carried out to determine the role of total serum alkaline Phosphatase in bone metastasis among patients of breast cancer. Setting; Department of Surgery, Nishtar Medical University, Multan in collaboration with breast clinic MINAR. Study Duration; January 2016 to June 2017 Subjects and methods; It was a retrospective study carried out at breast clinic MINAR, Multan. The medical record of the female patients having breast cancer aged 25 to 70 years (who presented from January 2016 to June 2017) was scrutinized. All the registered patients during above mentioned period having breast carcinoma with metastatic bone disease, as depicted on bone scan, were taken as index cases. All the cases underwent total serum alkaline Phosphatase estimation. We collected 86 cases for this research study. Primary bone tumours, lymphomas, sarcomas and bone metastasis due to other primary visceral malignancies were excluded. All the required data were entered and analyzed using computer program SPSS version 20.0. Results; The mean age of the breast cancer patients was 46.51 ± 11.11 years (ranging from 25 – 70 years). Eighty four (97.7%) were married. All the patients presented with lump breast. Only 3 (3.5%) of the cases gave family history of breast cancer and history of contraceptive pills was positive in 4 (3.7%) of the cases. History of breast feeding was positive in 63 (73.3%) of the cases. Mean age at menarche was 13.21± 0.896 years in our study cases. Mean age at menopause in our study was 46.86 ± 5.66 years. Total serum alkaline Phosphatase was raised in 27 (31.4%) cases. Only 6 (6.9%) of the cases showed its level more than 500 IU/L. Conclusion; Our study results don’t favor total serum alkaline Phosphatase estimation as biological marker of bone metastasis among breast cancer patients. Bone scan is more reliable and hence be employed for detection of bone metastasis. Further studies on bone ALP and total ALP estimation are required to generate further evidence on this subject.