Nov 23, 2005

Radiation Therapy For Cancer Increases Fracture Risk

Women who receive radiation therapy for the treatment of pelvic cancers should be encouraged to discuss with their physicians regarding their risks and preventive measures fractures since these women have increased risk of hip and other pelvic fractures later in life.

Women with anal cancer, rectal cancer or cervical cancer were seen to have a higher risk. A fracture can lead to serious complications for elderly people.

Dr. Nancy Baxter of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, the study's lead author of a recent study on this topic, said that, it is doubtful whether the findings would be applicable to younger women or to men, whose bones tend to be stronger than women's. The doctors must monitor bone density and treatment should be given to the women who received radiation therapy for pelvic cancer. This treatment should include calcium, medication and weight-bearing exercise.

It was found that the biggest risk was for those patients who had anal cancer due to the fact that their tumors generally perfuse to lymph nodes in the groin, where the hipbones are present and it is hard to withhold that part of the body from the radiation therapy.

These findings does not mean that radiation treatment should not be given to women with pelvic cancer because there is really no alternative for some of these cancers. Since late 1980's and 1990's there has been an improvement in radiation techniques and so now for the newly diagnosed patients the chances for damage may be lower.

Janet      Return to Cancer Blog Main

Do You Read All Of Our Cancer Blogs?

Do you read all of the blogs published by medicineworld.org? Many of our bloggers are busy keeping you updated on the various health related topics. We publish the following blogs at this time.

Cancer blog: I manage the cancer blog with lots of help and support form other bloggers. Through this cancer blog my friends and I try to bring stories of hope for patients with cancer. The cancer blog often republishes important blog posts from other cancer related blogs at Medicineworld.org. If you are searching for a blog that covers wide variety of cancer topics, this may be the one for you.

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Janet      

Cancer
We do not know the exact cause of many cancers. Many cancers like leukemia have no apparent cause. Some other types of cancers like lung cancers have identifiable causes like smoking in most cases. Lung cancer can occur in those who have never smoked in their life. It is hard to know in these cases what is causing that patients lung cancer. Factors that increase the risk of development of cancer is known as risk factors for cancer. These risk factors may be modifiable like smoking where a person can exert control or un-modifiable factors like age and gender. Smoking can cause cancers of the lungs, mouth, throat, bladder, kidneys and several other organs.