New treatment for certain bone loss

INNSBRUCK, Austria, Jul 20, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A drug used to treat osteoporosis can also prevent bone loss that occurs after liver transplants, researchers announced Wednesday.

When used in combination with calcium and vitamin D, the treatment also helped stabilize bone loss in patients who already had osteoporosis, and helped improve their bone mineral density.

Researchers assessed osteoporosis in 136 pre-liver transplant patients between January 1999 and December 2003. All of the patients were given 1,000 mg of calcium and 400 IE of vitamin D daily. Bisphosphonate (alendronate, the drug used to treat osteoporosis) was given following liver transplant to those patients who had either osteopenia -- a decrease in bone density that can lead to osteoporosis -- or osteoporosis before transplant.

"The striking result of this study was that alendronate, combined with calcium and vitamin D, almost completely prevented further bone loss in the first 4 months after (liver transplant)," the authors said.

The study was conducted at Innsbruck Medical University in Innsbruck, Austria,

The results of the study appear in the August issue of Liver Transplantation,