In Brief | Oncology & Radiology
ONCOLOGY: New Bone Metastases Response Criteria (RECIBM) Reclassify 1 in 5 Patients and Track Survival Better Than Existing Standards
[13 July 026]
Study Snapshot
| Design | Retrospective study, October 2017–September 2023; RECIBM developed by multidisciplinary consensus and tested against real-world patient data |
| Population | 84 patients with bone metastases (median age 59.0 years, IQR 52.0–68.3; 59 male) |
| Comparison | RECIBM vs. MD Anderson, PERCIST, and EORTC criteria; paired subgroup evaluable by all four criteria, remainder evaluable by bone scintigraphy plus MD Anderson criteria and RECIBM only |
| Primary Outcome | Inter-criteria agreement (Cohen κ) and prognostic performance (Harrell C-index) for overall survival and bone progression-free survival |
Summary
Bone metastasis response is currently assessed using a patchwork of anatomic and metabolic criteria that often disagree with one another.
This retrospective study developed a new consensus classification, Response Evaluation Criteria in Bone Metastases (RECIBM), and compared it against the established MD Anderson, PERCIST, and EORTC criteria in 84 patients.
Treatment response was scored by all four systems in a paired subgroup, while patients assessed only by bone scintigraphy were evaluable by MD Anderson criteria and RECIBM alone. RECIBM showed high agreement with the existing criteria (κ = 0.80–0.98, all P < .001), but reclassified 19% of patients (16 of 84) relative to those standards. In the paired subgroup, RECIBM had the highest C-index for both overall survival (0.807 vs. 0.771–0.782) and bone progression-free survival (0.849 vs. 0.799–0.833), though differences were not statistically significant after adjustment. Performance was consistent across imaging modalities and tumour types.
On multivariable analysis, RECIBM-defined response remained independently associated with overall survival (HR 0.07, P < .001) and bone progression-free survival (HR 0.03, P < .001), suggesting RECIBM may offer a more unified and prognostically meaningful framework for tracking bone metastasis response, pending prospective validation.
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