Osteoporosis Common in Post-Gastrectomy Patients

NEW YORK FEB 01, 2008 (Reuters Health) - A new study confirms a high prevalence of osteoporosis and vertebral bone deformity in post-gastrectomy patients, regardless of the type of reconstruction procedure performed and the time elapsed since the operation.

Dr. Jong-Inn Lee and colleagues from the Korea Cancer Center Hospital in Seoul examined bone mineral density in 133 gastric adenocarcinoma patients who underwent curative surgery. The overall prevalence of osteoporosis in patients older than 50 years was 39.6%, they report in the December 28 issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

The prevalence of osteoporosis in the lumbar spine was 29.8% in men and 54.4% in women. The prevalence of osteoporosis in the femoral neck was 11.9% in men and 26.3% in women. The overall rate of vertebral deformity was 46.6% -- 43.4% in men and 52.0% in women.

BMD and osteoporosis rates did not differ between patients with early or advanced gastric cancer. In addition, there was no difference in BMD or osteoporosis rates among patients who had Billroth I, Billroth II or Roux-en-Y reconstruction.

"These results indicate that gastrectomy itself affects BMD rather than the reconstruction method," Dr. Lee and colleagues write. "The osteoporosis rate in gastrectomy patients cannot be predicted by reconstruction type."

In multivariate analysis, anemia and age older than 64 were independent predictive factors for osteoporosis in men, with odds ratios of 4.8 and 3.9, respectively. In women, back pain was an independent risk factor for osteoporosis (odds ratio, 10.2).

"Considering the fact that gastric cancer patients after gastrectomy have many risk factors for osteoporosis fracture, early diagnosis and treatment are necessary," Dr. Lee and colleagues conclude. "Although some early results suggest that post-gastrectomy osteoporosis is resistant to treatment, effective results have recently been reported with the development of many anti-osteoporosis drugs."

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