Chemotherapy and radiation are standard treatments, along with use of drugs, called bisphosphonates, that specifically target the bones.
On the latter point, Healy is referring to the findings of rare but serious adverse events associated with bisphosphonates.
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But the study suggests that esophageal cancer is not a concern for people taking oral bisphosphonates, says Nancy Lane, M.
That means getting enough calcium and vitamin D, exercising regularly, and, in some cases, taking bone-strengthening drugs such as bisphosphonates.
Basically, the study that claimed your cancer risk went up to 2 per thousand was saying that taking bisphosphonates increases your chances of getting cancer .
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Dr. Russell says she feels comfortable prescribing oral bisphosphonates to patients with acid reflux, although she generally switches to an intravenous version if their reflux worsens.
They compared the rates of esophageal and stomach cancer in 83, 652 people, half of whom had received at least one prescription for oral bisphosphonates in the previous decade.
Oral bisphosphonates -- which include drugs such as Fosamax and Boniva -- can upset the stomach and cause acid reflux, although it helps to take the medication as directed.
The new study, which followed patients for an average of 4.5 years, didn't last long enough to conclusively rule out a small increased risk of cancer from oral bisphosphonates, according to the researchers.
The bottom-line from the FDA analysis of these studies is that bisphosphonates are important drugs for skeletal health, but that the benefits of these drugs in preventing bone fractures may peak after 5 years.
FORBES: Why David Healy Is Wrong About the Safety of New Medicines
"Our study is the largest to date, but on the basis of our results we cannot rule out small increases in esophageal cancer risk in individuals taking bisphosphonates, " says the study's lead author, Chris Cardwell, Ph.
"Be on the lookout for any esophageal symptoms if you take oral bisphosphonates, especially swallowing difficulty and throat, chest, or digestive discomfort, and report them to your physician for prompt evaluation and drug discontinuation, " she says.
The FDA has received additional reports of esophageal cancer in people taking oral bisphosphonates since 2009, says Wysowski, an epidemiologist at the branch of the agency responsible for tracking the safety of drugs after they have been approved.
"Older individuals taking bisphosphonates for the treatment of osteoporosis do not need to worry about esophageal cancer, and physicians should not withhold ... bisphosphonates because of esophageal cancer risk, " says Lane, who was not involved in the research.
D, the FDA official who first linked oral bisphosphonates to esophageal cancer in a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, says that the new study alone does not put the issue to rest.
The WSJ story uses as its jumping-off point the (shocking? surprising?) discrepancy between two studies that both asked the same question and used the same data: does taking bisphosphonates (think Fosamax) increase your risk of stomach or throat cancer?
FORBES: What Did You Know, and When Did You Stop Knowing It?
Some 10 million people in the United States -- most of them women -- have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, and an estimated 4.7 million take oral bisphosphonates, according to a 2009 study in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacists.
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