Treatment of Osteoporosis with 1-Alpha-Hydroxycholecalciferol and Calcium

. A double-blind comparative study of 1α-OHD3 and placebo was performed on 37 patients with osteoporotic hip fracture without clinical osteomalacia. 1α-OHD3, in a dose of 1 μg/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, 1α-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 1α-OHD3. It is concluded that treatment of osteoporosis with 1α-OHD3 and calcium is ineffective and potentially dangerous because it frequently causes hypercalcemia.