[Bone mineral density in patient with renal transplant]

Progressive renal failure may cause disturbance of mineral metabolism. Successful renal transplantation may correct many features of disturbance of calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Dual photon absortiometry (DPA) provides a noninvasive method for the serial measurements of bone mass of the vertebral bodies. Using this method, bone mineral density (BMD) was detected and evaluated in patients with renal transplants. In this study, BMDs of lumbar vertebrae 2 to 4 were measured and the mean value was presented as gm/cm2. Forty seven patients (over 40 years of age) with renal transplants and 103 normal controls of a similar age group were included in this study. Surprisingly, no significant difference in bone mineral density was found between the patients with renal transplant and the normal controls in our preliminary study.