Chapter 39 – Histopathology of skeletal metastases

Bone metastases of solid tumors not only cause significant morbility in cancer patients, but also usually indicate that the cancer has progressed into a non-curable stage. Recent developments of effective treatments and preventive agents for bone metastasis are creating a great need for better prediction and diagnosis of bone metastasis. This chapter describes the current understanding of bone metastases in general and gives examples from the five solid tumors most commonly producing bone metastases.