In patients with early-stage breast cancer, treatment with chemotherapy, as well as aromatase inhibitors, can weaken bones. Because women with weak bones can suffer from fractures, they are also usually given drugs that help to prevent bone loss. The most commonly used drugs belong to a family called bisphosphonates and include pamidronate (Aredia®), alendronate (Fosamax®), and the newer zoledronic acid (Zometa®).These drug names may sound familiar to you ? they are also used to treat women with osteoporosis. At the meeting, the presentations showed that in addition to strengthening bones, one bisphosphonate, zoledronic acid, may also work directly on the cancer cells. Here are more details on these very interesting findings. ZO-FAST: Less Bone Loss with Zoledronic Acid In the Zometa-Femara Adjuvant Synergy Trial (ZO-FAST), the effect of zoledronic acid on bone loss was studied in postmenopausal women with early breast cancer who were given the aromatase inhibitor letrozole. In one group of patients, zoledronic acid was given immediately after surgery and chemotherapy were completed (immediate group). The second group got zoledronic acid only after the patients showed some form of bone loss or if they had a fracture (delayed group). After patients were monitored for three years, investigators found that fewer patients who got zoledronic acid immediately after treatment suffered from bone loss compared to those in the delayed group. More surprisingly, the investigators also found that breast cancer came back in fewer patients who got immediate zoledronic acid
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