Hi,

I was ice skating when a teenager skating backwards without looking where he
was going hit me from behind and I fell.  It was a pretty hard fall and I
knew immediately that I had broken it and all I could of was -well, that's
it for me...

Tammy

Ah, we're confounding two things here.  I read Tammy as believing that
mets were more likely at the site of previous fractures, whereas Alex
apparently read it as fractures being more likely at the site of mets,
and perhaps being a first symptom of mets.

Certainly where there are bone metastases, fractures are easier and more
likely.  And indeed in some cases the first indication of mets is a
fracture.  But that's usually where the bc itself was undiscovered, it
would be unlikely in someone who had recently had a bone scan as it
takes quite a lot of tumour development to weaken something as
substantial as the bones of the arm.  And as Alex points out, it should
be pretty obvious on x-ray.  Another point is that bone mets get less
likely the further out along the extremities, they are rare in or beyond
wrists or ankles, more common in hips or shoulders, but most common in
ribs, skull and spine.  So location is significant too.

Tim