Osteoporosis Supplement: Prof Moira O’Brien discusses the growing awareness of vitamin D as being essential to bone health and its necessity in the adequate absorpotion of calcium, as well as the most current research on calcium supplements In the last decade, the increasing importance of vitamin D to health, especially bone health, has been highlighted [...]

Osteoporosis Supplement: Prof Gerald H. Tomkin looks at recent studies investigating the merits of different osteoporosis treatments and stresses the importance of compliance The recent bad weather with ice and snow has, among other things, concentrated the mind yet again on fractures and the underlying pathology. I have no doubt that the DEXA scans have [...]

Osteoporosis Supplement: Researchers have found a potential new treatment for osteoporosis Using an investigational drug that inhibits serotonin synthesis in the gut cured osteoporosis in post-menopausal rodents, according to an international team led by researchers from Columbia University Medical Center in the United States. The findings appear in Nature Medicine (1). The research involved the [...]

Natalya Anderson reviews a study which found that the risk of vertebral fracture in young postmenopausal women could be reduced with strontium ranelate treatment Strontium ranelate may reduce the risk of vertebral fracture in young postmenopausal women with severe osteoporosis, according to study results published by the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases. (1) “Vertebral fractures [...]

Osteoporosis Supplement: The Irish Osteoporosis Society, with the support of an unrestricted educational grant from A.Menarini Pharmaceuticals Ireland Ltd, has launched a new patient information leaflet on calcium and vitamin D3. Lucy Mooney (27), who was recently diagnosed with osteoporosis, attended the launch to help promote the awareness that osteoporosis can affect anyone, at any [...]

Osteoporosis Supplement: Rory Hafford examines the findings of a number of studies into the rise of osteoporosis and looks at a new and controversial book on the condition Sir Kingsley Dunham is a former director of the British Geological Survey group and he draws an interesting analogy between the Pennine hills and osteoporosis. He says [...]

Clinical Update: Hip and knee surgery – It is not practical to screen every hip and knee replacement patient post-operatively for the low risk of possible silent venous thrombosis, a leading orthopaedic surgeon has stated. According to Mr Fergal McGoldrick, repeat methodical clinical examination, coupled with a low threshold for screening, is, however, paramount to [...]

Clinical Update: Hip and knee surgery – All going well, patients remain for a week in hospital after hip and knee replacements. However, some are administered warfarin for up to six weeks after they return home from hospital. Patients on warfarin may need to be seen for frequent checks of their international normalised ratio (INR) [...]

Clinical Update: Hip and knee surgery – As we have seen, patients who have undergone hip and knee replacement surgeries are at a significant and clear risk of clotting. While it is agreed that measures must be taken to prevent this, the question remains, how best does one do it? “It is known from orthopaedic [...]