Bone Density in Survivors of Childhood Cancer

Advances in combination chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgery, and bone marrow transplantation have resulted in markedly improved survival rates for many children with cancer. Advancements in therapy, however, have led to new concerns, namely long-term consequences of effective treatments. Young adult and adult survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for a number of disorders related to therapy. Specifically, the young adult who has survived cancer, attendant treatments, and their complications is at risk for factors that can lead to suboptimal acquisition of peak bone mass. These factors include chronic illness, nutritional deficiencies, limited physical activity, and treatment with glucocorticoids, multiagent chemotherapy, and radiation. The long-term adverse effects of these therapies on endocrine systems, especially sex steroid and growth hormone deficiencies, are additional risk factors for some patients. After a brief review of the processes associated with acquisition of peak bone mass in the young adult, this article examines the impact of cancer and cancer therapy on bone mineral density in survivors of childhood cancer.     

Calciphylaxis – a topical overview

'Calciphylaxis', a calcification syndrome associated with ischaemic cutaneous necrosis, is acquired naturally in humans in disease states. It is a life and limb-threatening complication, usually observed in patients with renal disease and secondary hyperparathyroidism, but known to occur in the absence of renal or parathyroid disease. The reported mortality rate, which ranges from 60-80%, relates to wound infection, sepsis and organ failure. It is a small-vessel vasculopathy, which is estimated to occur in about 4% of haemodialysis patients. Clinically, violaceous, reticulate areas of cutaneous necrosis and eschar may be evident, particularly in the extremities. In addition to the clinical picture, a raised calcium phosphorous product, an elevated parathyroid hormone level, radiographic evidence of vessel and soft-tissue calcification and the finding of mural calcification affecting small arteries and arterioles on histopathology help to confirm the diagnosis of this entity which generally has a poor prognosis. A high index of suspicion and an active multidisciplinary management approach, with rigorous attention to wound care and prevention of sepsis, are vital in the management of these patients. In this overview, we discuss the pathophysiology, clinical features and associations, risk factors, diagnosis and management issues relating to calciphylaxis.     

严重继发性甲状旁腺功能亢进症临床分析

目的调查血液透析患者全段甲状旁腺激素（iPTH）、血清钙和血清磷的水平，了解严重的继发性甲状旁腺功能亢进症（SHPT）的发病情况。方法选择血液透析治疗超过1年，行3次以上iPTH、Ca和P检查的患者，以血iPTH〉800ng／ml为界定点，分析严重的SHPT发病率与年龄、性别、透析龄、原发病（糖尿病或非糖尿病）、血清钙和血清磷的关系。结果139例患者中有27例是严重的SHPT患者，发病率为19．4％（27／139），它们拥有较长的透析龄（P〈0．05）；其糖尿病的发生率明显低于非糖尿病（P〈0．05），而且存在明显的高磷血症和高钙磷乘积（P〈0．05）。Logistic回归分析显示，年龄、高钙磷乘积是严重的SHPT的独立危险因素（P〈0．05）。结论严重的SHPT的发病率与年龄、高钙磷乘积有关。因此，临床上必须早治疗，严格控制高磷血症。     

Study on Bone Mineral Density and its Influencing Factors among 1 214 Older Adults in Xuhui District, Shanghai

Osteoporosis is a common disease in older adults. The basic evidence for the diagnosisof osteoporosis is the decrease of bone mineral density (BMD) [1]. Studies showed that the risk of fractures would rise as the bone mineral density decreased, and the me…     

Osteoporosis and Back Pain among the Elderly

Questionnaire responses from 120 men and 337 women over the age of 50 years were studied to determine the prevalence of back pain among the elderly. In order to gain a rough indication of the back pain among elderly women which might be due to osteoporosis, the prevalence was compared in the two sexes. The prevalence of back pain without radiation to the legs and concomitant morbidity was found to be similar among men and women up to the 70–79-year age-group. After this age the prevalence was higher in women. Those with exceptional loss of body height or kyphosis had a high prevalence of back pain, while those who had sustained previous hip or radius fractures did not. There was increasing prevalence of back pain among women with increasing number of previous fractures. The study gives little indication of serious morbidity of osteoporosis in the form of back pain before very old age.     

Direct injections of calcitriol into enlarged parathyroid glands in chronic dialysis patients with severe parathyroid hyperfunction

Summary: Severe secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic dialysis patients has been recently treated by supraphysiological concentration of calcitriol achieved through pulse therapy. However, there are many patients resistant to this therapy, who usually have larger parathyroid gland(s). to overcome this resistance, calcitriol was injected directly into the enlarged glands under ultrasonographic guidance. We injected 70–90% of the calculated gland volume of calcitriol solution (1 μg/mL) into the glands of 7 patients three times per week for 2 weeks. the parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels decreased significantly after 2 weeks of direct injections of calcitriol. Following a further 4 weeks of calcitriol pulse therapy, PTH levels remained suppressed and serum alkaline phosphatase activity and the volume of parathyroid glands also decreased. During the long-term follow up, five patients remained well controlled with calcitriol pulse therapy, while two patients needed ethanol injections to control hyperparathyroidism. Although we could not completely rule out a toxic effect of the vehicle, direct injection of calcitriol into parathyroid glands may be another treatment option for chronic dialysis patients. Our data further support the important role of resistance of parathyroid cells to calcitriol in the pathogenesis of parathyroid hyper function in uraemic patients.     

Reduction of Mortality in the Stockholm Ischaemic Heart Disease Secondary Prevention Study by Combined Treatment with Clofibrate and Nicotinic Acid

Consecutive survivors of a myocardial infarction from the Southern Hospital, below 70 years of age, were randomized into a Control group (n=276) and a Treatment group (n=279). The latter was openly prescribed the combination of clofibrate and nicotinic acid for serum lipid lowering. Each patient should remain in the study for 5 years and be seen regularly every 4 months at a special IHD outpatient clinic within the hospital. The concentration of serum cholesterol and triglyceride was lowered by 13% and 19%, respectively, in the Treatment group compared to the Control group. Total mortality was 82 cases in the Control group and 61 in the Treatment group, a 26% reduction (p<0.05). For patients above 60 years of age in the Treatment group the reduction in mortality was 28% (p<0.05). IHD mortality was reduced by 36% (p<0.01)in the Treatment group compared to the Control group. The beneficial effect of the serum lipid lowering treatment was related to the serum triglyceride concentration in two ways. First, it only occurred in patients with a triglyceride level >1.5 mmol/l (n=216). Secondly, it was most pronounced in the 44% of the treated patients who had a lowering of the serum triglyceride concentration by 30% or more, and in this subgroup the reduction of IHD mortality was 60% (p<0.01). For serum cholesterol there were no such relations. The difference between serum triglycerides and cholesterol concerning these relations to the treatment outcome may be due to the fact that hypertriglyceridaemia was the most common hyperlipidaemia among our patients, occurring in 50%, while hypercholesterolaemia only occurred in 13 %. Caution should be exercised in the interpretation of the results as the trial was not blind. However, the fact that the decrease in IHD deaths was directly related to the degree of serum triglyceride lowering indicates that it was the drug effect on serum lipids that was reponsible for the beneficial effect of the treatment.     

单发转移性肝癌的诊断和治疗

目的　探讨单发转移性肝癌的诊断和治疗。方法　回顾性总结分析 1年半来治疗 1 0例患者的临床资料。结果1 0例患者入院后确诊为转移性肝癌 ,肝脏转移灶均为单发 ,肿瘤直径在 4 .5～ 1 2 .4 cm ,平均 7.8± 2 .5 cm。 2例来自胃癌 ,7例来自结直肠癌 ,1例来自恶性淋巴瘤 ,门诊误诊率高达 6 0 %。 9例患者均同期行肝转移癌切除及胃肠道肿瘤切除术 ,手术顺利 ,无 1例出现手术并发症。结论　单发肝转移癌发病率低 ,容易误诊 ,医师对本病认识不足以及临床思维的局限是导致误诊的主要原因。治疗首选肝转移灶和原发灶肿瘤同期切除     

A new hypothesis for the bone marrow edema pathogenesis during transient osteoporosis

Transient osteoporosis is an infrequent condition of uncertain etiology with pain, limited range of motion and radiographic evidence of osteoporosis affecting one or more joints. It is self-limited, reversible and can involve only the hip (transient osteoporosis of the hip, TOH) or, less frequently, one or more joints contemporaneously or at different times (regional migratory osteoporosis, RMO). We studied four men with transient osteoporosis, including two with TOH and two with RMO. All patients underwent a standard radiographic work-up of the affected joints, arteriovenous Doppler US, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and three-phase bone scanning. In all patients, symptoms were related to bone marrow edema demonstrated at MRI and to a transitory regional arterial hyperflow observed at the early scintigraphic analysis. On the basis of our observations, we hypothesize that regional arterial hyperflow may be the cause of the bone marrow edema and therefore of the transient osteoporosis.