[Bone mineralometry in post-menopausal osteoporosis]

Bone mineralometry offers exact, reliable information on the extent of the bony mass in many dysmetabolic diseases. Post-menopausal osteoporosis is certainly one of the diseases that has been most widely investigated densitometrically. In a study of 192 patients carried out with a gamma-emitting monochromatic source (241Am) mineralometer reduced bone content was found to be particularly severe in some cases. A statistically significant correlation between bone mass and patient age was also apparent. Thirty-two women received long-term treatment with 1 microgram/day 1.25 (OH)2D3. In these cases, the percentage decrease in bone mass related to the mean values for age group was found to be proportional to the number of years since the climacterium under basal conditions, similar to the picture in corticosteroid osteoporosis, for which a study of 42 patients undergoing chronic cortisone treatment showed a significant correlation between reduction of bone mineral content and the period of treatment. A marked increase in this content was obtained with 1.25 (OH)2D3.