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[Disabling senile osteoporosis]
J D Ringe1, M Musolf, H P Meier-Baumgartner
1Medizinisch-geriatrische Klinik, Albertinen-Haus, Hamburg.
Insights
This case study highlights severe bone disease in an elderly man, revealing osteoporosis and osteomalacia. Intestinal malabsorption, linked to prior surgery, was identified as a key contributing factor to his debilitating fractures.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Orthopedics
- Gastroenterology
Background:
- Proximal femur fractures are severe complications of type-II osteoporosis, with significant disability and mortality.
- Men are frequently affected by type-II osteoporosis, unlike type-I.
- The case involves a 79-year-old male with bilateral humerus fractures and a history of femoral fracture.
Abstract:
Fractures of the proximal femur are the most dangerous complications of type-II-osteoporosis with a high rate of disability and mortality. In contrast to type-I-osteoporosis, men are affected rather frequently (ratio 1:3). We report on a 79-year old man who was completely in need of care after bilateral fractures of the humerus after having survived a previous pertrochanteric fracture of the left femur. Diagnostic procedures revealed that in this case an intestinal malabsorption has to be taken into consideration as a pathogenetic factor of this severe osteopathy. Bone biopsy confirmed a combination of osteoporosis and osteomalacia. Partial gastrectomy, which had been performed 10 years before, was obviously the reason for malabsorption having caused furthermore pernicious anemia, severe malnutrition and exsiccosis.