login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Anti-cancer Drug Causes Bone Loss
Exemestane -- brand name Aromasin -- is part of a drug class called aromatase inhibitors, which lower levels of the oestrogen that some breast cancers need in order to grow.
Canadian bone specialists took a look at a group of patients who had taken part in a study into the effectiveness of exemestane among 4,500 healthy women with a worrying family history of breast cancer.
Overall, the big study showed that the drug was highly effective, reducing the risk of breast cancer by almost two-thirds.
The bone sub-study looked at 351 women who had been taking either exemestane or a dummy lookalike pill and whose bone density was measured with hi-tech scanners.
After two years, women taking exemestane had a high loss of bone density at a common fracture point in the wrist called the distal radius, and also at the lower end of the tibia, compared with their counterparts on placebo.
The exemestane users also had an eight-percent decline in the thickness of cortical bone, which comprises the protective outer shell of the bones.
That finding in particular is worrying because nearly four out of every five fractures in old age occur in cortical bone. These accidents are a huge source of disability.
"Women considering exemestane for the primary prevention of breast cancer should weigh their individual risks and benefits," says the study, headed by Angela Cheung of the University Health Network in Toronto.
"For women taking exemestane, regular bone monitoring plus adequate calcium and vitamin D supplementation are important."
The paper is published online by the journal The Lancet Oncology.
Source-AFP
|
|
More News on: Drug Toxicity, Infantile Cortical Hyperostosis, Signature Drug Toxicity, Drugs Banned in India
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
|
|
 | Quiz on Cancer Looking for information on cancer? Go through medindia's Cancer quiz. 
|
- News Quick Links
| News Categories: |
| » | Drug for Irregular Heartbeat Gets Green Signal |
| » | Schizophrenia Drug Differentiates Cancer Stem Cells into Less Threatening Cells |
| » | Docs Who Seldom Meet Drug Reps Continue to Prescribe Drugs With FDA “Black Box” Warnings |
| » | Revision in Quality Standards for Heparin |
| » | Acne Drug Users At High Risk of Developing Eye Infections |
| More Drug News | |
|
