September 25, 1998 

Joel Finkelstein, MD

PTH injections can prevent medically induced osteoporosis

A new MGH study shows that long-term treatment with parathyroid hormone (PTH) can safely prevent the development of osteoporosis in women taking medications that induce artificial menopause. The study, in which women received daily injections of PTH for a year, is a follow-up to a 1994 study that evaluated six months of treatment. Compared with the earlier research, the new report finds that longer-term treatment results in even greater increases in spinal bone density than seen in the earlier report and preserves density in the hip area, something not seen in the six-month study. The report appears in the Sept. 23 Journal of the American Medical Association.

"This report sets an important precedent for further studies defining a role for PTH in prevention of osteoporosis," says Joel Finkelstein, MD, of the MGH Endocrine Unit, the study's lead author. "Based on this work, we are embarking on a three-year study examining whether PTH can prevent bone loss in early menopause."

Produced by the parathyroid glands, PTH normally helps control the exchange of calcium between the bones and the bloodstream. Although continuous exposure to high levels of PTH can weaken the skeleton, intermittent injections of low-dose PTH increase the amount and strength of bone.

The senior author of the JAMA study is Robert M. Neer, MD, director of the MGH Osteoporosis Center. Other coauthors are Anne Klibanski, MD, Amy Arnold and Thomas Toth, MD, of the MGH; and Mark Hornstein of BWH.