Bone density changes in postmenopausal women with breast cancer treated with long term adjuvant tamoxifen

ABSTRACT

T amoxifen, a synthetic antiestrogen increases disease-free and overall survival when used as adjuvant therapy for primary breast cancer. In postmenopausal women who are at great risk for developing osteoporosis, it is important to evaluate its effect on bony skeleton. The study included 40 postmenopausal patients with negative node breast cancer, were treated with 20 mg tamoxifen per day for two years compared with 40 postmenopausal healthy women taken as a control. Using the optical bone densitometry, the bone mineral density was measured for all patients at base line, one and two years. there was a significant increase in lumbar vertebrae bone density by 4.2% and 0.5% at one and two years compared with normal controls which decreased by 0.4% at each year. The radial bone density was noticed to decrease in both tamoxifen and control groups nearly with the same extent. Serum osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase were also decreased significantly in tamoxifen group compared with the normal control. In postmenopausal women the treatment with tamoxifen is associated with preservation of the bone density of the lumbar spine