Parathyroid Hormone and Bone Marker Levels in Patients with Morbid Obesity Before and After Biliopancreatic Diversion

Background Scopinaro biliopancreatic diversion (BPD) is associated with malabsorption of calcium and vitamin D, which manifests as a secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHP) and may lead to osteopenia. Methods 96 morbidly obese patients were studied (age 19–60 years, 23 men and 73 women, with mean initial BMI 53) following intervention by Scopinaro BPD. The change in iPTH levels, urine DPD, Pyrilinks-D of DPC and serum CTx were studied at 0, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after surgery. Postoperatively, they were given supplements of calcium and vitamin D3. The control group consisted of 67 non-obese women and 10 men. Results The iPTH levels gradually increased after BPD, with a substantial difference compared to presurgery levels at month 6. In spite of the calcium and vitamin D supplements, 77% of the patients with presurgery SHP did maintain high levels of iPTH after 2 years.The percentage of SHP among the patients with normal pre-surgery iPTH was 58%. The basal figures of DPD/cre were significantly higher than in the control group, 9.06 (4.6–13.5) nM/mMcre vs 3.9 (2.8–5.6) in men and 6.75 (5.4–7.9) vs 7.67 (3.3–11.6) in women, but not CTx, 0.24 (0.02–0.89) vs 0.22 (0.07–0.55). After the operation, there was a noticeable increase which persisted at 2 years. There was a lack of correlation between the levels of iPTH and the bone resorption markers, i.e. the first ones decreased from month 6 in men and from month 12 in women, while the levels of iPTH continued to increase. Conclusion In obese patients, we found no correlation between iPTH levels and BMI. Supplements of calcium and vitamin D did not prevent the appearance of SHP following BPD. The patients with high pre-surgery iPTH levels have a higher risk of malabsorption of calcium and vitamin D. Following malabsorptive bariatric surgery, there is an increase in bone resorption, which results in DPD and CTx increase. Those markers do not correlate with iPTH, and this may suggest that there is a phenomenon of bone reshaping parallel to the loss of weight.