Changes in skeletal mineral in patients on prolonged maintenance dialysis.

The measurement of bone loss in patients undergoing maintenance dialysis over a period of two and a half years is reported. The tendency to lose bone is a likely event in renal failure, but depends more on the individual patient than on the type of dialysis used, provided that steps are taken to prevent avoidable calcium loss during dialysis. Vitamin D therapy was an important factor in preventing bone loss in some cases. The tendency to lose bone more readily when both kidneys were absent may have reflected a deficiency of 1-25 dihydrocholecalciferol. On the other hand, bone loss was also observed in transplanted patients. The need to measure bone loss at regular intervals once renal failure has been diagnosed is stressed.