Treatment of osteoporosis with 1-alpha-hydroxycholecalciferol and calcium.

A double-blind comparative study of 1 alpha-OHD3 and placebo was performed on 37 patients with osteoporotic hip fracture without clinical osteomalacia. 1 alpha-OHD3, in a dose of 1 microgram/day together with 2.5 g CaCO3, did not heal osteoporosis as judged from determinations of bone mineral density and histomorphometric analyses during four months of treatment. However, 1 alpha-OHD3 seemed to have an effect on fracture healing as concluded from the posttreatment alkaline phosphatase level. Hypercalcemia was common, occurring in six out of 19 patients treated with 1 alpha-OHD3. It is concluded that treatment of osteoporosis with 1 alpha-OHD3 and calcium is ineffective and potentially dangerous because it frequently causes hypercalcemia.