SALMON-CALCITONIN AND CALCIUM IN THE TREA TMENT OF MALE OSTEOPOROSIS - THE EFFECT ON BONE-MINERAL DENSITY

Obejctive:To assess the effectiveness of salmon calcitonin in the ther apy of male osteoporosis. Methods: Nine male patients aged 20-73 years with vertebral osteoporosis were included in this study. Patients wer e prescribed 100 units of salmon calcitonin injected subcutaneously th ree times per week over a period of three months, followed by three mo nths without salmon calcitonin treatment. Thereafter the patients rece ived another salmon calcitonin cycle for three months as described abo ve. All men received calcium supplementation of 1000 mg/day throughout the study period of 12 months. Bone mineral density of the lumbar spi ne and al the hip was measured at the beginning and the end of the tre atment period using DXA (n = 7) or QCT (n = 2). Results: Baseline eval uation revealed a bone mineral density of the lumbar spine of 0.78 +/- 0.09 g/cm(2) and 0.62 +/- 0.09 g/cm(2) at the hip. Treatment with sal mon calcitonin resulted in a significant increase of vertebral bone mi neral density to 0.80 +/- 0.09 g/cm(2) (p < 0.05). Femoral bone minera l density also significantly increased after salmon calcitonin therapy to 0.64 +/- 0.11 g/cm(2) (p < 0.05). Conclusion: These results show t hat calcium and salmon calcitonin increase bone mineral density in mal e patients with osteoporosis. Calcium and calcitonin may be useful in the treatment of male osteoporosis; however, further studies are neces sary before definite recommendations can be made.