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Breast Cancer (Expert Forum)
rib pain
Answered by
Cleveland Clinic - breast cancer
Cleveland - OH
Questions posted in the Breast Cancer Forum are answered by medical professionals from The Cleveland Clinic. Topics include Breast Biopsy, Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, Lumps, Lumpectomy, Lymph node dissection, Lymphedema, Mammograms, Mastectomy, Radiation Therapy, Reconstruction, Self Breast Exam, and Surgery.
rib pain
by lisa1971, Jul 14, 2007 12:00AM
I have been experiencing pain in my rib for about 2 weeks now. I just recently had lab tests done. Everything normal, including tumor markers and alk.phos. level. The only unusual reading was a calcium level of 8.4 (with normal 8.8 to 10 ish at my hospital) Can a low calcium level be indicative of a bone metastasis? I was originally diagnosed 4 years ago, stage 3 with lymph node involvement. In the past, I have gone to my onc and she said if alk phos normal and not high calcium, probably not bone metastasis. I had last bone scan (normal) 9 months ago. What is your opinions?
Doctor's Answer
by Cleveland Clinic, Jul 16, 2007 12:00AM
, Jul 16, 2007 12:00AM
Dear lisa1971: A low calcium can be attributed to a number of reasons, however, bone metastasis is not one of those reasons. You may want to bring your symptoms to the attention of your doctor who can evaluate this and recommend appropriate evaluation in context of questioning, and physical examination.
