Bone Abstracts

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of hormone therapy on the change of bone mineral density in women who showed early menopause after pelvic radiation therapy for uterine cervical cancer.

Materials and methods: Through retrospective chart review, the changes of bone mineral density in 63 women with early menopause after pelvic radiation therapy for uterine cervical cancer were evaluated. After the diagnosis of early menopause which was defined as level of serum FSH higher than 40 mIU/ml before the age of 45 years with amenorrhea for 1 year, all the women were interviewed and got thorough explanation about health-impact of early menopause. Forty-five women agreed with the use of hormone therapy for their early menopause and eighteen women rejected hormone therapy. The changes of bone mineral density were compared after 3 years. For further analysis, two normal age-matched women with regular menstruation were selected and compared with the women used hormone for their early menopause.

Results: For 3 years, there were no significant changes in bone density of women treated with postmenopausal hormone therapy for early menopause but women rejected hormone therapy showed significant loss of bone mass. In inter-group analysis, there were significant differences in changes of bone density between two groups. When compared with normal women with regular menstruation, women used hormone therapy after early menopause showed no difference in the change of bone mineral density for 3 years.

Conclusion: Women treated with hormone therapy for early menopause following pelvic radiation showed normal age-related change in bone density. Hormone therapy may be effective for prevention of bone loss in women with early menopause after pelvic radiation therapy.

Key words: Early menopause, bone density, hormone therapy, radiation therapy.