Profile of Secondary Bone Cancer in Lomé (Togo)

Objectives: To determine the epidemiological, clinical and paraclinical profile of bone metastases cancer. Patients and Methods: It was a retrospective study performed on a series of cases, admitted in Rheumatology department of the University Teaching Hospital of Lomé, Togo from October 1989 to December 2008. The diagnosis of bone metastasis was made because of the existence of inflammatory bone pain, or pathological fracture, or bone swelling and a bone condensing or mixed or osteolytic radiological image. The anatomopathological evidence was made after biopsy of the bone lesion or primary cancer. 2018 patients were hospitalized in rheumatology, and among them 77 had documented bone metastasis. Results: There were 53 men (68.8%) and 24 women (31.2%) with a sex ratio of 2.2. The mean age was 56.6 ± 12.6 years, ranging from 21 to 82 years. The primary cancer most frequently found was that of the prostate, representing 57.1% of bone metastasis and breast in 15.6%. The main manifestations of patients with bone metastases were inflammatory bone pain (76.6%) and alteration of general condition (75.3%). The spine was the main area of pain (64.9%). The metastasis was bone condensing in 48.1% of cases, osteolytic in 40.3% and mixed in 11.6%. The average survival was 22 months. Conclusion: The clinical and radiological presentation remains classic. Cancer of the prostate and breast are the main neoplasia responsible for bone metastasis in our series. The diagnosis of the primary tumor is often made at the stage of metastasis in black Africa.