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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> Resnick and his colleagues reported on their findings in the Sept. 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
According to Fosamax's maker, Merck & Co. Inc., the drug is designed to impede specific cell activities that contribute to bone loss, while increasing bone mass itself and decreasing the relatively speedy rate of loss associated with both menopause and corticosteroid medications. The drug also became available in a generic form earlier this year.
The new study involved 112 men under the age of 85, who were diagnosed with advanced but non-metastatic prostate cancer. They tracked the men's bone health for a total of two years.
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In the first year, half of the men were randomly assigned to receive 70 milligrams of alendronate once a week, while the other half received a placebo. For the second year, half of those who had taken alendronate the first year were switched to a placebo, while the other half continued taking the medication. The initial placebo group was, in turn, switched to a regimen of alendronate.
The authors then conducted an analysis of bone mineral density, bone loss and bone gain among all the patients. In particular, they assessed what effect the discontinuation of alendronate therapy after a year had upon patients.
Men who took alendronate the full two years continued to add bone density in their spinal and hip regions, the researchers reported.
Those taken off the medication retained gains they'd achieved in those areas but lost some bone density in the forearm region.
Patients just beginning alendronate treatment for the first time in the second year of the study saw bone mass improvements in both the spinal and hip area but experienced less of a gain than those who had begun the treatment in the first year. Discontinuation of the treatment in the second year resulted in some bone loss and skeletal deterioration, the researchers reported.
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