BONE MINERAL DENSITY IN PEDIATRIC ONCOLOGY CASES AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THEIR TREATMENT

Chronic diseases and intensive therapies may spoil bone turnover and reduce bone mass. Reports about bone mineral density are scarce in malignancies. For this reason, by using dual x ray absorbtiometry, bone mineral density was measured after the completion of their treatment in 25 pediatric cancer patients who did not take steroids, cranial and spinal radiotherapy. Three patients were found to be osteoporotic, 10 were osteopenic, totally 52% of the cases had low bone mineral density.

Keywords: bone mineral density, childhood cancer