The effects of calcium-regulating-hormone on BMC in patients with CRF.

By means of single photon absorptiometry, bone material content (BMC) on centerbrachium was detected in 34 patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) and 34 sex-age-matched normal controls, and their serum parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcitonin (CT) were also measured by radioimmunoassay. It was found that (1) the mean BMC was obviously lower in patients with CRF than that in the normal controls; (2) PTH and CT obviously rose in patients with CRF; (3) the decrease of BMC was strongly correlated with that of creatinine clearance (Ccr). Furthermore, the more Ccr decreases, the more PTH in blood increases; no relations have been found between BMC and the serum levels of CT. The authors suggest that the development of osteoporosis with CRF is due to the secondary increase of PTH in blood but the effect of increased serum CT levels was not so obvious. Therefore, lowering blood PTH concentrations by parathyroidectomy or renal transplantation may be beneficial to curing osteoporosis of patients with CRF.