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Alendronate May Add to Benefits of Testosterone in Men with Osteoporosis: Presented at ECE
By Alison Palkhivala
LYON, FRANCE -- April 28, 2003 -- Adding the bisphosphonate agent alendronate to testosterone may help enhance its bone building effects of this hormone in men with osteoporosis.
Micha S. Rabijewski and Stefan Zgliczyński from the department of endocrinology, Medical Center for Postgraduate Education, Warsaw, Poland, enrolled 30 men with low levels of testosterone and osteoporosis with or without pathological fractures. They received intramuscular testosterone enanthate 200 mg every 2 weeks or testosterone enanthate plus alendronate sodium 10 mg/day for 24 months.
Dr. Rabijewski presented the findings from this study in a poster presentation here on April 28th at the 6th European Congress of Endocrinology.
Bone mineral density increased significantly at the lumbar spine and the femur in both treatment groups. However, patients taking combination therapy had significantly greater increases than patients taking testosterone alone at the lumbar spine (7.8% vs. 13.1%, P<0.01), trochanter (7.9% vs. 11.8%, P<0.02) and Ward's triangle (7.5% vs. 10.5%, P<0.05).
Levels of bone specific alkaline phosphatase decreased significantly in both groups, but the decline was greater in patients taking testosterone plus alendronate. No severe side effects occurred with either therapy.
According to Dr. Rabijewski, alendronate plus testosterone therapy appears to be better than testosterone alone for the treatment of osteoporosis in men. He speculated that this might be because each agent has a different bone-building mechanism of action.
[Treatment Of Osteoporosis In Men. The Influence Of Testosterone Replacement Therapy And Addition Of Alendronate On Bone Mineral Density (BMD). Abstract: P0459.]
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