Current topics in bone metastases.

Patients with cancer who have bone metastases may live for several years following diagnosis. However, skeletal disease significantly impacts quality of life, causing bone pain, pathologic fractures, spinal cord compression, and hypercalcemia. This program covered the challenges of treatment, new standards of care, advances in nursing, responsibilities in supportive care, and current trials investigating options for treatment-induced bone loss. The program ended with a call to nurses to become more active as patient advocates.