Background: Bone is one of the most common sites of metastases, with bone metastases-related pain representing a significant source of morbidity among patients with cancer. Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, outpatient modality with the potential for treating painful bone metastases. The aim of this study is to report our initial experience with magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound in the treatment of bone metastases and our preliminary analysis of urinary cytokine levels after therapy.
Methods: This was a single-center pilot study of 10 patients with metastatic cancer to investigate the feasibility of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound for primary pain control in device-accessible skeletal metastases. Treatments were performed on a clinical magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound system using a volumetric ablation technique. Primary efficacy was assessed using Brief Pain Inventory scores and morphine equivalent daily dose intake at 3 time points: before, day 14, and day 30 after the magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound treatment. Urine cytokines were measured 3 days before treatment and 2 days after the treatment.
Results: Of the 10 patients, 8 were followed up 14 days and 6 were followed up 30 days after the treatment. At day 14, 3 patients (37.5%) exhibited partial pain response and 4 patients (50%) exhibited an indeterminate response, and at day 30 after the treatment, 5 patients (83%) exhibited partial pain response. No treatment-related adverse events were recorded. Of the urine cytokines measured, only Transforming growth factor alpha (TGFα) demonstrated an overall decrease, with a trend toward statistical significance ( P = .078).
Conclusion: Our study corroborates magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound as a feasible and safe modality as a primary, palliative treatment for painful bone metastases and contributes to the limited body of literature using magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound for this clinical indication.
Keywords: Brief Pain Inventory; bone metastases; high-intensity-focused ultrasound; magnetic resonance thermometry; magnetic resonance–guided focused ultrasound.