Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2005 , Vol 51 , Num 1

General Approach to Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Breast Cancer

Jale İrdesel 1
1 Uludağ Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Fiziksel Tıp ve Rehabilitasyon Anabilim Dalı,Bursa

Breast cancer is a health problem encountered with increasing incidence in recent years especially in female population. However, survival rate after breast cancer is longer today because of improvements in diagnosis and treatment of the disease. Thus, many women may face with some diseases in this period. Osteoporosis (OP), which is one of these diseases, is very often seen in female population from postmenopausal period, especially in the elderly. OP is also an important problem of women who have had breast cancer. More than half of the women will experience premature ovarian failure within a few months of adjuvant chemotherapy treatment. The majority of females who have had breast cancer cannot receive hormone replacement therapy (HRT) because of the adverse effects that HRT may have on the course of the disease. These patient groups that could not use estrogen stay in a longer period of estrogen deprivation. Both early menopause and contraindication of estrogen therapy cause a greater risk for OP. In this compilation, development and treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women with breast cancer is reviewed. 

Keywords : Postmenopausal osteoporosis, breast cancer, treatment