For treating a leading cause of osteoporosis, surgery is better than widely used medications

While most cases of osteoporosis are caused by normal aging, another leading cause of the bone-loss disease is a condition called hyperparathyroidism, in which the parathyroid glands release an excessive amount of a hormone that regulates the body’s calcium levels. Doctors commonly treat hyperparathyroidism using a class of prescription drugs called bisphosphonates, including alendronate (marketed under the brand name Fosamax) and ibandronate (Boniva), which are supposed to strengthen bones. Now, a study led by scientists at UCLA found that those drugs actually increase the risk of fracture, meaning that taking them is worse than doing nothing at all to treat the condition. The research also revealed that patients who have surgery to remove the overactive parathyroid glands have fewer subsequent bone fractures. The report appears in the April 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. About 400,000 people in the U.S. — 1 in 400 women and 1 in 1,200 men — have hyperparathyroidism; and osteoporotic fractures are a major public health and economic burden, said Dr. Michael Yeh, an associate professor of surgery and medicine, and the study’s first author. “Hip fractures in particular are associated with significant rates of mortality, disability and loss of independence,” said Yeh, who also is the chief of endocrine surgery at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. “Before this study, there was no data that compared parathyroid surgery with prescribing medication...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news