Hormone Treatment

[TommyG35]

I've just started hormone implants as part of prostate cancer treatment.

One of the side effects of the implant is that it can damage bone density, so my oncologist has requested a DEXA scan.

A purely speculative question, as I know everyone is different, but does anyone have experience of this? Was there a significant decrease in density, because of the hormone implant.

Thanks

[Treehuggers]

Hi TommyG35 I was given hormone implants on a monthly basis for breast cancer treatment over 20 years ago. The treatment was stopped after a year or two because I had significant bone reduction in my hip. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis 3 years ago at 63 .

[TommyG35 in reply to Treehuggers]

Thanks for your reply - I've just had my second implant so maybe I'll ask them to put me forward for a repeat scan in a year or so

[petabyte]

Hi

I had a DEXA scan a few months AFTER starting ADT for prostate cancer. It showed T -1.4 as the worst value. I was a bit disappointed with this since I workout regularly and have a good diet.

Most BMD loss is during the early part of treatment but it will continue until testosterone returns. There are options to help. I will add them later.

It is good to monitor this. DEXA scans are cheap so you don't need to wait a year.

I am on this protocol approved by my oncologist. High dose vitamin D with calcium. This is a phase 2 RCT. A phase 3 study (more people over a longer period) is recruiting.

ascopubs.org/doi/10.1200/JC...

If that does not help enough, I will consider suggesting low dose estrogen patches to replace the missing estrogen caused by ADT (but that is not a standard treatment)

This provides some background, the treatment will very much depend on the DEXA results. It is a good sign that your oncologist is on it. I had to bring it up myself.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articl...

I suggest you update you Bio. There are two good PCa forums that can help as well.

[TommyG35 in reply to petabyte]

Thanks. I would be interested in the options to help, and will chat to the consultant about this definitely

[petabyte in reply to TommyG35]

I edited my response above

[TommyG35 in reply to petabyte]

Thank you - That's really helpful. I'm already on a high dose Vit D supplement plus risendrate sodium. I'll see what the scan reports and take it from there.

[ROSModerator Partner]

Hi TommyG35 ,

Just popping in to wish you a warm welcome to our community We also wanted to let you know that we have some information about prostate cancer treatments and bone health on our men's page: theros.org.uk/information-a...

We hope this might feel helpful at this time

Wishing you the very best,

Lulu

ROS Moderator

[TommyG35 in reply to ROSModerator]

Thank you