Total and regional bone mass in metastatic cancer of the prostate.

OBJECTIVES

Given the discrepancies in the findings of regional bone densitometry in patients with osseous metastases of prostate cancer, we decided to evaluate total and regional bone mineral content in 21 patients with stage D cancer of the prostate. These measurements were compared with those of a group of healthy subjects of similar age (n = 21).

METHODS

A full body bone densitometry was carried out in all of the men. Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry was used.

RESULTS

There were no differences between groups in the anthropometric variables (Student's t test). There were no differences between groups in the bone mass of the skull and arms, but patients had less bone mass in the trunk and legs (p < 0.05) and in the pelvis (p < 0.0001). Total body bone mineral content and total body bone mineral content corrected for weight also were lower in the patients than in the control group (p < 0.005).

CONCLUSION

These results show that patients with prostate cancer and bone metastases have decreased bone mass, possibly because of a predominance of osteolytic over osteoblastic metastases.