Bone microarchitecture can deteriorate in 1 year in early postmenopausal women.(Brief Article)

2002 AUG 1 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New research presented at the 84th annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Francisco shows that trabecular architecture - the structural network inside bone - can deteriorate in just 1 year in early postmenopausal women.

This is an important new finding as the loss of trabecular architecture occurred despite the fact that these women had only modest bone mineral density (BMD) loss. In the same study Actonel (risedronate sodium tablets) was shown to protect the trabecular microarchitecture of bone in early postmenopausal women at 1 year and to increase BMD.

Data were presented from a study that included women within 6 months to 5 years after menopause who received treatment with Actonel 5 mg or placebo daily for 1 year. Calcium supplementation was not provided to patients in the study. Analysis of iliac crest biopsy samples showed that after only 1 year, women in the placebo group (n=3D12) had already experienced significant deterioration in the microarchitecture of trabecular bone -- despite an only modest loss in lumbar spine BMD (-3.3%). Over the same period, trabecular bone microarchitecture was maintained in women who received Actonel (n=3D14). These patients also saw a gain in lumbar spine BMD (2.1%).

"Osteoporosis has been defined as a skeletal disease characterized by a combination of low BMD and bone microarchitectural alterations that are responsible for increased skeletal fragility," said Robert Lindsay, MD, PhD, chief of internal medicine at Helen Hayes Hospital, ...