A new study found that the drug used to treat osteoporosis, when used in combination with calcium and vitamin D, can prevent the additional bone loss that commonly occurs after liver transplants. The treatment also helped stabilize bone loss in patients who already had osteoporosis, and helped improve their bone mineral density (BMD).
The results of this study appear in the August 2005 issue of Liver Transplantation, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS). The journal is published on behalf of the societies by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and is available online via Wiley InterScience.
Osteoporosis occurs in a large number of patients with end stage liver disease, and is often worsened by the immunosuppressive drugs normally given to prevent rejection following liver transplants. To date, however, studies have not been conducted and no guidelines exist for the treatment of bone loss following liver transplant.
In order to determine the effectiveness of medication in preventing bone loss after liver transplants, researchers led by Gunda Millonig of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Innsbruck Medical University in Innsbruck, Austria, assessed osteoporosis in 136 pre-liver transplant patients between January 1999 and December 2003. All patients on the waiting list were given 1000 mg of calcium and 400 IE of vitamin D daily, and 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. Patients whose BMD decreased following the transplant were also given bisphosphonate.