Hormonal therapy is one of the many treatment options for prostate cancer. It is given to lower testosterone levels or block the effects of testosterone, which can stimulate the growth of hormone-dependent types of prostate cancer.
Hormonal therapy can have side effects and one of these can be bone loss. According to an article recently published in the Journal of Urology, Zometa (zoledronic acid) appears to reduce bone loss caused by hormone therapy among patients with prostate cancer that has not metastasized.
A clinical study was conducted to further evaluate Zometa among men with prostate cancer. The study included 120 men who have been treated with hormone therapy in the past twelve months. Indications of bone loss were reduced among patients treated with Zometa but were increased among patients receiving the placebo. The researchers suggest that measuring of bone density before therapy begins may help physicians more appropriately identify patients who should receive immediate therapy with Zometa.
1. Kristina - Thanks for posting this and helping get the word out. While the knowledge has been available for some time, the medical community has been slow to absorb it and still needs to get the message, especially about fairly new drugs like Zometa.
Having a challenging case caused me to link up with leaders in the field early, and I learned that those who were expert in hormonal blockade had identified this threat in the 90s. In fact, there's an issue of PCRI Insights newsletter available free online electronically from January 1999 that describes the threat of bone density loss and what to do about it.
I was very surprised that back around 2000, just after my diagnosis, most doctors I talked to were unfamiliar with the threat, with the tests needed, and how to counter it. That is changing, as medical oncologists were hearing about the threat several years ago from their professional association, and the urologists were learning about it more recently from their association.
I have been taking Fosamax for years, as a DEXA scan determined that I had developed osteopenia; this was about ten months after starting hormonal blockade. For most men, especially those with arthritis or calcification of the blood vessels, a qCT scan, quantitative CT scan, is better, as that is not fooled by those conditiong, leading to a false report of healthy bones.
Jim Waldenfels
Posted at 6:59PM on Oct 18th 2006 by Jim Waldenfels