Introduction and Objectives
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for advanced prostate cancer is considered the standard therapy over the last half of century. ADT is known to descrease bone mass density (BMD) which may lead into skeletal morbidity. Little is known about BMD of hormone naive patients with prostate cancer who are subjects of subsequent ADT. The aim of the study was to measure initial BMD of patients with prostate cancer prior to ADT and to compare their initial BMD to healthy control.
Material and Methods
Femoral neck and lumbar spine (L1–L4) were determined by dual-x-ray absorciometry (DXA) in 97 men (mean age 75.4 yrs) prior to ADT. These measurements were also made on control group of 89 patients (mean age 73.6 yrs).
Results
Patients with prostate cancer had significantly lower initial total BMD (p = 0,022) than healthy control. This should be taken into consideration before the start of ADT which leads into further loss of BMD.
Conclusions
DXA should be adviced to all patients before the initiation of ADT and thereafter every 12 months to detect patients at high-risk of skeletal morbidity. This enables early diagnosis of osteoporosis, its treatment and may reduce skeletal morbidity.
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
