Treatment of osteoporosis--with special reference to the coexistence of osteoporosis and osteomalacia.

1. The current status of treatment for osteoporosis at the osteoporosis clinic of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kobe University School of Medicine is reported. A study was made in these osteoporotic patients to investigate the relationships between pain and x-rays and also between pain and the clinical laboratory findings in this particular disease. 2. When pains in osteoporosis were classified into 4 grades, severity I through severity IV, the more severe pain was found to be associated more frequently with elevated blood levels of alkaline phosphatase. Many of the patients with severe pain tended to show indistinct trabeculation and sclerosis of the upper and lower margins of vertebral bodies on x-rays while some demonstrated looser's zones notably in the ribs. 3. A considerable portion of those patients who were receiving treatment under the diagnosis of osteoporosis were found to have evidence of osteomalacia, a finding pointing to the likelihood of coexistence of osteoporosis and osteomalacia. This possibility should therefore always be kept in mind when dealing with osteoporotic patients.