Primary and metastatic cancer to the bones may be evident on chest radiographs. Boney lesions may be sclerotic or lytic and can give clues as to the etiology. Common malignancies giving rise to sclerotic metastasis are prostate cancer, breast cancer, and lymphoma, while common malignancies giving rise to lytic metastasis are renal cell cancer, multiple myeloma, and thyroid cancer. The image shown is from a chest radiograph and reveals a permeative mixed lytic and sclerotic process in the left clavicle (arrow) secondary to malignant lymphoma.
