EFFECT OF NASAL SALMON-CALCITONIN ON POSTTRAUMATIC OSTEOPENIA FOLLOWING ANKLE FRACTURE - A RANDOMIZED DOUBLE-BLIND PLACEBO-CONTROLLED STUDYIN 24 PATIENTS

With the aim of preventing postfracture osteopenia, we randomized 24 p atients with internally fixed ankle fractures to 3 months of treatment with placebo or 200 IU nasal salmon calcitonin (sCT) in a prospective , double-blind design. 3 patients were excluded, leaving 11 patients i n the placebo group and 10 in the sCT group for study. Bilateral measu rements of bone mineral content (BMC) in the coronal plane of the prox imal tibia were performed by dual photon absorptiometry (DPA) postoper atively within 7 days of the fracture and after 1.5, 3 and 6 months. 3 months after the fracture, BMC in the injured legs had decreased by 1 4% in the placebo group and 2.1% in the sCT group. This difference was not statistically significant. In the healthy legs, a statistically s ignificant intergroup difference was seen 6 weeks after the fracture, caused by a tendency towards a decrease in BMC of 4.6% in the placebo group, while BMC in the sCT group had increased by 7.4%. Nasal sCT may to some extent, but in this study not significantly, reduce postfract ure osteopenia, and cause a significant effect on BMC in the healthy l eg.