Is chemotherapy still prescribed as a frontline treatment for CLL if the patient also has osteoporosis?

For those of us with CLL and osteoporosis, do you know whether chemotherapy is still prescribed as a frontline treatment for CLL?

I read that chemotherapy can cause osteoporosis. So for those of us who already have CLL and osteoporosis, I wonder whether chemotherapy could make the osteoporosis even worse. If you have CLL and osteoporosis, I would be grateful if you could share whether you have been prescribed a different frontline treatment against CLL because of your osteoporosis.

Thanks,

Lachlan, 55 years young, San Francisco, USA

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

That's a good question...osteoporosis is a loss of bone mass, but chemotherapy works to clear the marrow of B cells, so they are two different areas.

Chemotherapy, steroid medications, or hormonal therapy may cause osteoporosis, so something to discuss with your CLL doctor...

Something like Imbruvica (ibrutinib) a non chemo drug might be a better choice.

~chris

[GMa27]

Great question! I must ask my oncologist. Chemo might be soon for me. I went from osteoporosis to osteopenia due to taking Forteo injections for 2 years back in 2009-11. Holding steady at osteopenia since. So glad you brought up this question.

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Cllcanada-chris gave an excellent answer. And a broad Google search turns up several results that reference chemo treatments aggravating osteoporosis in breast cancer.

So I narrowed the search to lymphomas and got this

google.com/search?newwindow...

The top 3 results are NIH papers, so the provenance is very good.

I suspect that at 55, you don't think of yourself as elderly ( I'm 70 and I'm not there yet - LOL ) but when doctors are evaluating patients for treatment they can use a CIRS score to evaluate all your conditions. So the osteoporosis may alter your suggested treatment choices.

google.com/search?newwindow...

Len