ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION OF BONE MINERALS IN WOMEN WITH BREAST-CANCER TREATED WITH ADJUVANT TAMOXIFEN

Oestrogen levels play a major role in conditioning the rates of bone c hanges in women. Tamoxifen is a synthetic oestrogen antagonist commonl y used as an adjuvant therapy for breast cancer. The goal of the prese nt study was to study the amount and the elemental composition of bone minerals in the appedicular skeleton of women with breast cancer trea ted with adjuvant tamoxifen, as well as to investigate the possibility of increased risk for osteoporosis. Forty-two patients, aged 41-65 ye ars, without skeletal metastases were studied. The mean duration of ta moxifen administration on a daily dose of 20 mg was 21 months (range 1 -59 months). It was found that neither the amount of phosphorus in han ds (HBP) nor forearm bone mineral content (BMC) differ statistically f rom those of age-matched healthy subjects. This was confirmed by reass essing bone mineral status after 30 months in 17 postmenopausal patien ts treated with tamoxifen for a mean time of 52 months. In conclusion, our data support that long-term tamoxifen treatment has no adverse or protective effect on the amount and elemental composition of the appe dicular skeleton.