Osteoporosis In Gastric Cancer Survivors

Main Category: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;  Bones / Orthopedics;  Pain / Anesthetics
Article Date: 17 Jan 2008 - 5:00 PDT

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Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Although the prognosis of gastric cancer is known to be poor, the survival rate for those who receive operative treatment is increasing recently by virtue of early diagnosis and aggressive surgical intervention. However, many surviving patients might suffer from osteoporosis and be at risk of developing multiple fractures in their later life.

A research article published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology (volume 13, issue 48) addresses this problem. The Korea Cancer Center Hospital research team, led by Dr. Jong-Inn Lee who is the president of Korea Gastric Cancer Association, reported the prevalence of osteoporosis in patients who survived after gastrectomy was 38.3%, vertebral deformity rate was 46.6% and 45.9% of patients complained of bone related pain.

One possible reason for the high prevalence of osteoporosis reported by the investigators is that the average age of gastrectomy in gastric cancer patients is about 60 years, and being older than 64 years was an independent predicting factor of osteoporosis.

Another possible reason is gastrectomy might affect calcium and other nutrient absorption, as most patients with osteoporosis had anemia and decreased body mass index.

The authors recommend all patients who have anemia, back pain, or are over 60 years be screened for osteoporosis by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), regardless of tumor stage and type of reconstruction.

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Reference: JS Lim, SB Kim, HY Bang, GJ Cheon, JI Lee, High prevalence of osteoporosis in gastric adenocarcinoma patients after gastrectomy. World J Gastroenterol 2007; 13(48): 6492-6497 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/13/6492.asp

Correspondence to: Jong-Inn Lee, MD, Department of Surgery, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Gongneung-dong 215, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-706, Korea.

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. The WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

About The WJG Press

The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Source: Jing Zhu
World Journal of Gastroenterology

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