Oral bisphosphonate prevents bone loss in androgen deprivation therapy for nonmetastatic prostate cancer

We studied the short-term efficacy of alendronate, an oral bisphosphonates, on bone mineral density (BMD) during androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in 45 nonmetastatic prostate cancer patients at the beginning of ADT (treatment group). All received alendronate five mg daily from the initiation of ADT. Lumber BMD was evaluated by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, at baseline and after six months of treatment. Historical data on 24 patients with prostate cancer who received ADT without bisphosphonate administration were studied as controls (control group). BMD decreased in 13.9 and 45.8% of the patients in the treatment and control groups, respectively. Mean BMD changes in the lumber spine were +1.6 +/- 3.0% in the treatment group and -1.1 +/- 2.7% in the control group (p = 0.006). No pathological fractures occurred during the study period. No severe adverse effects were observed, but three patients could not continue alendronate treatment because of adverse events. Despite the short-term of this evaluation, our results showed that oral alendronate is an effective and safe treatment for preventing bone loss and increasing BMD in patients receiving ADT for prostate cancer.