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Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology 30:410-413 (2000)
© 2000 Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research

Effects of Alendronate on Bone Metastases and Hypercalcemia After Surgery for Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Takamasa Ohnishi1, Eiji Takeda3, Shiro Yogita1, Hidenori Miyake1, Takafumi Kinoshita1, Yoshiyasu Terashima1, Toshio Matsumoto4 and Seiki Tashiro1,+

1First Department of Surgery, 3Department of Clinical Nutrition and 4First Department of Internal Medicine, University of Tokushima, School of Medicine, Tokushima, Japan

Alendronate, a bisphosphonate compound, lowers serum calcium in patients with cancer-associated hypercalcemia through its inhibitory effect on bone resorption and as a result symptoms associated with hypercalcemia improve. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of alendronate in patients with hypercalcemia due to bone metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Two patients were evaluated. Their corrected serum calcium and {alpha}-fetoprotein (AFP) levels and their computed tomography (CT), bone scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings were evaluated before and during alendronate treatment. After treatment, not only the corrected serum calcium levels but also AFP levels and bone pain decreased; in addition, the regression of the metastatic focus was noted in the MRI analysis. These tumor inhibitory effects of alendronate have not been reported in HCC before; and alendronate might serve to prevent bone metastases in patients with HCC. In conclusion, two patients who developed hypercalcemia associated with bone metastasis after surgery for HCC were treated with alendronate and they experienced alleviation of the pain due to bone metastasis, improvement of their quality of life and a marked decrease in AFP levels with tumor regression.

+ For reprints and all correspondence: Takamasa Ohnishi, Chemotherapy Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, 5–1–1 Tsukiji Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan. E-mail: tohnishi@gan2.res.ncc.go.jpAbbreviations: AFP, {alpha}-fetoprotein; PTHrP, parathyroid hormone-related protein; LOH, local osteolytic hypercalcemia; MAH, malignancy-associated hypercalcemia; HHM, humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy


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