Comparison of calcium, calcitriol, ovarian hormones and nandrolone in the treatment of osteoporosis.

Most therapy for osteoporosis has been aimed at decreasing bone resorption and is capable of preventing further bone loss. Recently, anabolic steroids have been claimed to cause increased bone mass in osteoporosis, but the mechanism for this effect is not understood. In this study calcium, and calcium with calcitriol, caused a slowing of forearm bone mineral loss. Calcium and ovarian hormones, with or without calcitriol, caused a small non-significant rise in forearm mineral density, and nandrolone decanoate 50 mg intramuscularly, every 2 or 3 weeks caused a significant rise in forearm mineral density (+15.9 +/- 2.4 mg/ml/yr and +13.7 +/- 3.4 mg/ml/yr, respectively). The 3-weekly regime caused few side effects and is considered the optimal dose. The striking rise in bone density in patients in whom bone resorption was controlled before therapy, suggests that anabolic steroids can increase the bone formation rate.