Korean J Anesthesiol.  2004 Mar;46(3):302-305. 10.4097/kjae.2004.46.3.302.

Comparison of Bone Mineral Density of Lumbar Spine in Osteoporotic Patients Treated with Percutaneous Vertebroplasty

• Kim KH
• Lee HJ
• Baik SW
• Kim HK
• Kwon JY
• Kim CH

• KMID: 2236695
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.2004.46.3.302

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Osteoporosis and its associated fractures have become increasingly common in Korea because of increasing population age. Both alendronate (ALN) and raloxifene (RLX) can treat and prevent new vertebral fractures. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of combined alendronate and raloxifene therapy with alendronate therapy alone in osteoporotic patients that had been treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty.
METHODS
We analyzed 40 patients older than 50 years, and performed percutaneous vertebroplasty due to osteoporotic compression fractures. Twenty patients received alendronate only at 70 microgram/week, and the other 20 patients received combined alendronate at 70 microgram/week and raloxifene at 60 microgram/day. At baseline and after 3 and 6 months, we measured the bone mineral density (BMD) of the lumbar spine and femoral neck.
RESULTS
On average, the lumbar spine BMD increased by 7.1 and 8.7% from baseline in the ALN and in the ALN + RLX group. The increase in femoral neck BMD in the ALN + RLX group (8.0%) was greater than the 5.6% increase in the ALN group (P = 0.02).
CONCLUSIONS
Combined RLX and ALN therapy is more effective than ALN therapy alone in terms of increasing the femoral neck BMD in osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture patients treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty.

Keyword

alendronate; bone mineral density; percutaneous vertebroplasty; raloxifene

MeSH Terms

Alendronate
Bone Density*
Femur Neck
Fractures, Compression
Humans
Korea
Osteoporosis
Raloxifene Hydrochloride
Spine*
Vertebroplasty*
Alendronate