エルカトニンを中心として長期治療を施した高齢骨粗鬆症患者における骨密度の推移

摘要

It is important to continue osteoporosis treatment over a long period. To achieve this, it is essential to make elderly patients understand the importance of continuing osteoporosis treatment and to present to these patients the evidence of the efficacy of long-term treatments. In this retrospective study, the changes in the lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) of 14 general outpatients who continued treatment with elcatonin (EL) for an average of 9.3 years (6 to 10 years) were examined. Furthermore, the changes in the BMD of patients who began receiving, in addition to EL, a bisphosphonate (BIS) mid-term were examined. In general, the BMD of osteoporotic patients undergoing a long-term, well-managed treatment with EL changed favorably. For patients in whom BMD stopped increasing, BIS was added to the treatment regimen as a concomitant drug. The BMD in some of these patients began increasing again following the addition of BIS to the regimen. These results suggest that treatment with. EL is a good option for elderly osteoporotic patients when considering the ease of long-term management and high patient-adherence.