| Abstract: | In 47 women with postmenopausal osteoporosis, pretreatment studies by microradiography, radioimmunoassay and other methods showed increased bone resorption, normal bone formation, and decreased serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone (PTH). In patients treated with a physiologic replacement dose of estrogen, bone resorption decreased to normal and PTH increased after short-term therapy; bone formation decreased to very low levels after long-term therapy. These data indicate that, in most patients, both an intrinsic abnormality of bone cell function and a disruption of the normal regulation of bone turnover by PTH and sex hormones, as a result of the menopause, are important in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. |
