Lung Cancer & Your Bone Health
- Spread to the bones is relatively common in lung cancer.
- Cancer can weaken your bones and cause them to fracture.
- You can take action to help keep your bones strong.
- If lung cancer has spread to your bones there are effective treatments to reduce pain and improve bone strength
Lung cancer, along with breast and prostate cancers, is among the cancers most likely to spread to the bones. When cancer cells spread to your bones, it can cause pain, weakening of the bones, bone breaks and overall damage to your bone health. But there are treatments to help slow the growth of the cancer as well as treatments for your bone symptoms. You can take steps to maintain your bone health with lung cancer, too.
Related: When Cancer Spreads to Bones, There are Treatment Options: Know What’s Available to You
Here’s what you should know.
How Lung Cancer May Affect Your Bones
When lung cancer spreads, your bones are one of the most likely places for it to go. Cancer cells release substances that can cause pain in your bones, weaken your bones, and increase your risk of fracture. The cancer cells can also grow within the bone and this causes bone damage as the cancer cells enlarge and remove calcium from the bones.
“A major issue with lung cancer is bone metastasis and fracture,” says Sandip Patel, MD, a medical oncologist who specializes in lung cancer at UC San Diego Health.
Related: 7 Lung Cancer Symptoms to Know
Cancer cells can also make your bones release calcium into your blood stream faster than they should. Your bones need to hold onto this calcium in order to stay strong. Letting go of too much calcium, which is called hypercalcemia, weakens your bones and may cause other systemic symptoms throughout your body when blood calcium levels become higher than normal. Hypercalcemia can be dangerous but there are effective treatments if your calcium level becomes to high.
What Your Doctor Can Do
Your doctor should monitor your bone health throughout your cancer care. There are treatments both for cancers that have spread to the bone as well as for the bone symptoms, such as pain, bone weakness and loss of calcium.
“Doctors may use drugs such as zoledronic acid [Reclast, Zometa] and denosumab [Prolia, Xgeva] in patients with lung cancer with bone metastases to minimize the risk of fracture,” Dr. Patel says.
Related: Stage 4 Lung Cancer Survivor Saved by Treatment Advances
Zoledronic acid belongs to a class of drugs called bisphosphonates. These are osteoporosis medications that slow down or prevent bone loss and strengthen your bones. Denosumab is a different type of drug for osteoporosis and hypercalcemia that can also treat bone cancer and cancer-related bone problems.
What You Can Do
There are some things that can weaken your bones and lead to breaks that are simply out of your control. But, there are other things you can control that have a big impact on bone health.
“Weight bearing exercise and vitamin D supplementation are helpful for maintaining the bone health of people who have lung cancer,” Dr. Patel says.
Dr. Sairah Ahmed explains the importance of diet and exercise when you have cancer.
Weight bearing exercise is physical activity that requires you to support your own body weight, such as brisk walking, running, and dancing. That helps your bones hold on to the strength they need to support you. If you quit making this demand of your bones, they can become weak, brittle and prone to breaks. Swimming and biking are good for your heart, but they don’t help your bones.
“Exercise using your own body weight is generally fine as long as it doesn’t cause you any pain,” Patel says.
Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium. Your bones need calcium to stay strong. You can get vitamin D from the sun, from foods to which manufacturers add vitamin D, and from supplements. Adults from ages 51 to 70 should get 600 IUs a day from food or supplements. (The sun isn’t a great source of vitamin D if you wear sunscreen to avoid skin cancer or don’t get outdoors much.) After age 70, you need 800 IUs of vitamin D a day.
Related: Radiation Therapy for Cancer in a Single Dose? That’s the Power of SBRT
Men ages 51 to 70 need 1,000 mg of calcium a day (and 1,200 a day after 70) and women that age need 1,200 mg. If you don’t get enough from dairy, dark leafy greens, soy products, and foods fortified with calcium, get the rest from a supplement. But be careful not to overdo it. You shouldn’t get more than 2,000 mg a day.
Here’s other things you can do to keep your bones healthy and strong:
- Maintain a healthy weight; people who are underweight have greater risk of bone breaks
- Limit drinking to no more than two drinks a day
- Quit smoking; smokers have a higher risk of osteoporosis
When to See Your Doctor
If you have lung cancer and have new, unexplained pain in your bones, call your doctor. If you know that you have bone metastases (lung cancer that has spread to your bones) and the pain is worsening or spreading, call your doctor.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
Lung Cancer & Your Bone Health
- Spread to the bones is relatively common in lung cancer.
- Cancer can weaken your bones and cause them to fracture.
- You can take action to help keep your bones strong.
- If lung cancer has spread to your bones there are effective treatments to reduce pain and improve bone strength
, along with
breast and
prostate cancers, is among the cancers most likely to spread to the bones. When cancer cells spread to your bones, it can cause pain, weakening of the bones, bone breaks and overall damage to your bone health. But there are treatments to help slow the growth of the cancer as well as treatments for your bone symptoms. You can take steps to maintain your bone health with
lung cancer, too.
Related: When Cancer Spreads to Bones, There are Treatment Options: Know What’s Available to You
Read More Here’s what you should know.
How Lung Cancer May Affect Your Bones
When lung cancer spreads, your bones are one of the most likely places for it to go. Cancer cells release substances that can cause pain in your bones, weaken your bones, and increase your risk of fracture. The cancer cells can also grow within the bone and this causes bone damage as the cancer cells enlarge and remove calcium from the bones.
“A major issue with lung cancer is bone metastasis and fracture,” says Sandip Patel, MD, a medical oncologist who specializes in lung cancer at UC San Diego Health.
Related: 7 Lung Cancer Symptoms to Know
Cancer cells can also make your bones release calcium into your blood stream faster than they should. Your bones need to hold onto this calcium in order to stay strong. Letting go of too much calcium, which is called hypercalcemia, weakens your bones and may cause other systemic symptoms throughout your body when blood calcium levels become higher than normal. Hypercalcemia can be dangerous but there are effective treatments if your calcium level becomes to high.
What Your Doctor Can Do
Your doctor should monitor your bone health throughout your cancer care. There are treatments both for cancers that have spread to the bone as well as for the bone symptoms, such as pain, bone weakness and loss of calcium.
“Doctors may use drugs such as zoledronic acid [Reclast, Zometa] and denosumab [Prolia, Xgeva] in patients with lung cancer with bone metastases to minimize the risk of fracture,” Dr. Patel says.
Related: Stage 4 Lung Cancer Survivor Saved by Treatment Advances
Zoledronic acid belongs to a class of drugs called bisphosphonates. These are osteoporosis medications that slow down or prevent bone loss and strengthen your bones. Denosumab is a different type of drug for osteoporosis and hypercalcemia that can also treat bone cancer and cancer-related bone problems.
What You Can Do
There are some things that can weaken your bones and lead to breaks that are simply out of your control. But, there are other things you can control that have a big impact on bone health.
“Weight bearing exercise and vitamin D supplementation are helpful for maintaining the bone health of people who have lung cancer,” Dr. Patel says.
Dr. Sairah Ahmed explains the importance of diet and exercise when you have cancer.
Weight bearing exercise is physical activity that requires you to support your own body weight, such as brisk walking, running, and dancing. That helps your bones hold on to the strength they need to support you. If you quit making this demand of your bones, they can become weak, brittle and prone to breaks. Swimming and biking are good for your heart, but they don’t help your bones.
“Exercise using your own body weight is generally fine as long as it doesn’t cause you any pain,” Patel says.
Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium. Your bones need calcium to stay strong. You can get vitamin D from the sun, from foods to which manufacturers add vitamin D, and from supplements. Adults from ages 51 to 70 should get 600 IUs a day from food or supplements. (The sun isn’t a great source of vitamin D if you wear sunscreen to avoid skin cancer or don’t get outdoors much.) After age 70, you need 800 IUs of vitamin D a day.
Related: Radiation Therapy for Cancer in a Single Dose? That’s the Power of SBRT
Men ages 51 to 70 need 1,000 mg of calcium a day (and 1,200 a day after 70) and women that age need 1,200 mg. If you don’t get enough from dairy, dark leafy greens, soy products, and foods fortified with calcium, get the rest from a supplement. But be careful not to overdo it. You shouldn’t get more than 2,000 mg a day.
Here’s other things you can do to keep your bones healthy and strong:
- Maintain a healthy weight; people who are underweight have greater risk of bone breaks
- Limit drinking to no more than two drinks a day
- Quit smoking; smokers have a higher risk of osteoporosis
When to See Your Doctor
If you have lung cancer and have new, unexplained pain in your bones, call your doctor. If you know that you have bone metastases (lung cancer that has spread to your bones) and the pain is worsening or spreading, call your doctor.
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
