Impacto óseo en el tratamiento del cáncer de mama: PARTE II

breast cancer is one of the most frequent tumors in women. more than 70 % of these patients develop endocrine-responsive disease with estrogen receptor-positive, progesterone receptor-positive tumors or both. in the last decade, breast cancer mortality has decreased by 6-8 %. this could be due to early screening and to adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy as well as hormonal treatment, either with estrogen blockage or ovary ablation. estrogen depletion implies an increase in bone resorption, bone mass decrease and growth of the osteoporotic fractures the introduction of aromatase inhibitors offers promissory results in the early-stage breast cancer treatment. however, many clinical trials have demonstrated that estrogen deprivation induced by aromatase inhibitors seriously affects bone health. a systematic evaluation of these patients, including bone mass measurement, assessment of mineral metabolism and determination of risk factors for osteoporosis would be necessary to introduce prevention and/or treatment measures. bisphosphonates may be useful since they increase bone mass and reduce bone remodeling, although their usefulness in reducing the fracture rate has not been demonstrated in this group of patients.