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| The following article features coverage from the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) in Maui, Hawaii. |
Vitamin D supplementation is recommended for pediatric patients with Ewing or osteosarcoma undergoing chemotherapy, according to an oral presentation at the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) 2017 Annual Meeting.1
Although frequent hospitalizations and chemotherapy regimens can affect bone development in pediatric patients with sarcoma, evidence-based clinical recommendations to mitigate this issue are lacking. For this study, researchers evaluated the impact of vitamin D supplementation on bone mineral density and serum vitamin D levels in pediatric patients with Ewing or osteosarcoma.
Sixty patients with a mean age of 20 years were included; 28 had Ewing sarcoma and 32 had osteosarcoma. About half (31) of enrolled patients underwent standard treatment, which included surgical resection and chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. The remaining 29 patients underwent standard therapy but were given vitamin D supplementation if they were determined to be vitamin D deficient.
Just over half (55%) of patients in the standard therapy group had normal bone mineral density in the lumbar spine after the mean follow-up of 6 years; this contrasted with 93% of patients in the supplementation group. The median vitamin D levels were also higher in the supplementation group (24.1 ng/mL) than in the control group (15.8 ng/mL).
The authors noted that pediatric patients “undergoing sarcoma treatment experience a long time of hospitalization and inactivity in a life period of high importance for gaining their genetically programmed peak bone mass.”
Vitamin D supplementation may, however, mitigate this problem, and is recommended for pediatric patients with Ewing or osteosarcoma undergoing standard treatment.
Reference
1. Pirker-Frühauf UM, Scheipl S, Sperl D, et al. Impact of vitamin D supplementation during and after chemotherapy on bone mineral density in young Ewing’s and osteosarcoma patients. Oral presentation at: Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) 2017 Annual Meeting. November 8-11, 2017; Maui, Hawaii.
This article originally appeared on Cancer Therapy Advisor
