Chemotherapy leads to bone loss
Between 50 and 70 percent of women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer stop having regular menstrual cycles. A new study shows that these women also begin to lose bone mass within 6 months of starting chemotherapy.
“Bone loss occurs early and rapidly, and this is an under-appreciated side effect” of chemotherapy, says Charles L. Shapiro of Ohio State University in Columbus.
He and his colleagues studied 49 women who received 3 or 6 months of chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer. Of these women, 35 missed their menstrual cycles for 1 year and so were diagnosed with ovarian failure.