Caring for the Bone Health Among Liver Transplant Recipients.

Liver transplant outcomes have improved over the years, and currently, the quality of life and long-term well-being of these patients needs to be improved. Improving bone health goes a long way toward achieving this objective. Poor bone health (osteopenia and osteoporosis) although prevalent, is often overlooked owing to its asymptomatic nature. It can be complicated by debilitating fracture affecting quality of life. It is recommended to assess and optimize bone health prior to liver transplant. Multiple factors contribute to poor bone health in a liver transplant recipient and it is vital to understand and ameliorate these. A careful and targeted approach with inputs from multidisciplinary team involving transplant physician, endocrinologist, occupational therapist, nutritionist, and nursing personnel may often be required. In this review, we aim to concisely discuss the various aspects related to prevalence, pathophysiology, evaluation, treatment, and follow-up of bone disease among liver transplant recipients.

Bone Mineral Density and Body Composition in Males with Motor Neuron Disease: A Study from Teaching Hospital in Southern Part of India.

BACKGROUND: Osteoporosis and sarcopenia are important aspects of motor neuron disease (MND). Individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (MND-ALS) have an increased risk of falls and fractures. Currently, the standard of care does not involve a routine assessment of bone mineral density (BMD) and body composition in these patients. We aimed to assess BMD, bone mineral parameters and body composition in men with MND and compared them with healthy controls. METHODS: Consecutive males between 50 and 80 years of age diagnosed as MND-ALS by revised El Escorial criteria and able to walk unassisted attending Neurology outpatient clinic were recruited into the study. Age, gender and body mass index (BMI) matched healthy controls were recruited from the local community. BMD and body composition were assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Bone mineral parameters and bone turnover markers (BTMs) were also assessed in them. RESULTS: A total of 30 subjects with MND-ALS and 33 controls were recruited. The mean age (years) was 59.2 in cases and 61.2 in controls. The mean BMD (g/cm2) between the two groups was similar; however, BTMs were significantly higher in the MND group (P < 0.05). Subjects with MND-ALS had significantly lower mean appendicular lean mass (ALM) (19.9 versus 22.4 kg; P = 0.007) and ALM corrected for BMI than the healthy control group (0.858 versus 0.934 kg/kg/m2; P = 0.034). Sarcopenic obesity (Percentage fat mass >27% + ALM/BMI <0.786 kg/kg/m2) was more prevalent in MND-ALS compared to controls (44.5% versus 16.7%; P = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Although BMD was not significantly different between subjects with MND-ALS and healthy controls, BTMs were significantly higher in the MND group indicating a high bone turnover state. Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity were also more in MND-ALS group than controls. Routine assessment for bone health parameters and body composition indices may be included in management of the patients with MND.

Vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) for monitoring vertebral reshaping in children and adolescents with osteogenesis imperfecta treated with intravenous neridronate.

PURPOSE: The study was aimed at monitoring vertebral bodies changes with the use of Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA) in children and adolescents affected by osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) during treatment with intravenous neridronate. METHODS: 60 children and adolescents (35 males and 25 females; age 1-16 years) with OI type I, III and IV were included in the study. Intravenous neridronate was administered at the dose of 2 mg/kg every 3 months in all patients. Lumbar spine (LS) bone mineral density (BMD) and VFA by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) were assessed every 6 months up to 24 months during treatment. VFA with vertebral morphometry (MXA) was used to calculate the three indices of vertebral deformity: wedging, concavity and crushing. Serum calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone (PTH), 25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D], total alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP) and urinary C-terminal telopeptide of type 1 collagen (CTx) were measured at any time point. RESULTS: Mean LS BMD values significantly increased at 24 months compared to baseline (p < 0.0001); the corresponding Z-score values were -1.28 ± 1.23 at 24 months vs -2.46 ± 1.25 at baseline; corresponding mean Bone Mineral Apparent Density (BMAD) values were 0.335 ± 0.206 vs 0.464 ± 0.216. Mean serum levels of ALP, BALP and CTx significantly decreased from baseline to 24 months. By MXA, we observed a significant 19.1% reduction of the mean wedging index of vertebral reshaping at 12 months, and 38.4% at 24 months (p < 0.0001) and of the mean concavity index (16.3% at 12 months and 35.9% at 24 months; p < 0.0001). Vertebral reshaping was achieved for 66/88 (75%) wedge fractures and 59/70 (84%) concave fractures, but there were 4 incident mild fractures. Finally, VF rate was reduced at 24 months compared to baseline: 37/710 (5.2%) vs 158/710 (22.2%). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates the utility of VFA as a safe and alternative methodology in the follow-up of children and adolescents with OI.

Functioning Endocrine Tumors in Pregnancy: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges.

The occurrence of endocrine tumors in pregnancy poses several diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Although rare, functioning tumors involving the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, and pancreas are reported in the literature. Timely diagnosis and management of these tumors are essential as they might lead to adverse maternal and fetal outcomes if left untreated. This review is an attempt to characterize various functioning tumors that could occur in pregnancy, their clinical features, diagnosis, and management.

Trabecular Bone Score-An Emerging Tool in the Management of Osteoporosis.

Areal bone mineral density (aBMD) is currently the gold standard for the diagnosis of osteoporosis, however, it has its own pitfalls. Trabecular bone score (TBS), a novel tool in the evaluation of osteoporosis is an indirect indicator of bone microarchitecture. It is a textural index that evaluates pixel gray-level variations in the lumbar spine DXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) image. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have demonstrated that TBS may independently predict fragility fractures. TBS can also be used to adjust FRAX probabilities of fracture, though data available till date doesn't support any additional benefit. TBS also shows an improving trend with anti-osteoporotic treatment; however, the least significant change (LSC) is high that it takes more than 2 years for the change to manifest. TBS is also used in the evaluation of bone strength in cases of secondary osteoporosis. Though TBS predicts fracture risk independently in both genders, with the currently available data, it cannot be recommended as a standalone tool for decision regarding treatment of osteoporosis. TBS can be used as a tool to complement BMD in assessment of bone health. Additional studies are needed to assess its utility in clinical practice.

Utility of anthropometric indicators in predicting osteoporosis in ambulant community dwelling rural postmenopausal women from southern India.

Osteoporosis is characterised by low bone mineral density (BMD) and is a significant public health problem in India. This cross-sectional study was done to assess the relationship between various anthropometric measures and BMD in 308 rural dwelling South Indian postmenopausal women. Anthropometric variables such as weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC) and neck circumference (NC) were measured. BMD was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan at the lumbar spine (LS) and femoral neck (NOF). The mean age ± SD of study participants was 60.7 ± 7.8 years. All anthropometric variables showed positive correlation with BMD at NOF and LS (P < 0.05). Weight showed the best correlation (r = 0.482 for NOF and 0.412 for LS; P < 0.001). On multivariate logistic regression, age and weight remained significant for predicting femoral neck osteoporosis while weight and WC were the best predictors for LS osteoporosis. These anthropometric measures may serve as surrogate markers for osteoporosis and thus be used to screen postmenopausal women for referral to a centre with fewer limited resources.