INTRODUCTIONWith improved survival following transplantation, increasing importance is now being placed upon the long-term effects of therapy including osteoporosis. Several reviews regarding bone complications in transplanted patients have appeared in the literature (1-5). Most of these works refer to renal, hepatic, and cardiac transplants, whereas references to bone marrow transplantation (BMT) remain scarce, especially about the long-term changes in bone mineral metabolism. Bone diseases following BMT show several differences from those following other organ transplants. BMT recipients are relatively young and the duration of immunosuppressive therapy is usually short. The duration from diagnosis to BMT is relatively short, and thus pre-transplant bone mineral density (BMD) in BMT is higher than those in other solid organ transplantation (6). However, loss of bone mineral density is usually detected following BMT in short-term studies (6-9).We previously reported one-year change of bone mineral metabolism in which early bone loss is significant after BMT (7). However, data on the long-term change of BMD following BMT are rare. We observed the changes of yearly BMD during the post-BMT 3 yr and found a unique pattern in the bone loss and recovery according to the skeletal sites.
PATIENTS AND METHODSWe prospectively investigated 11 patients (5 females and 6 males) undergoing allogeneic BMT for hematologic diseases (7 with leukemia, 3 with severe aplastic anemia, and 1 with myelodysplastic syndrome). The mean age of patients was 28.7 ±8.6 yr at the time of BMT (Table 1). Each patient received high dose cyclophosphamide (60 mg/kg/day) for two to four days. Six patients also received total body irradiation (TBI, 10-13.2 Gy) as a conditioning regimen. Intravenous cyclosporin A was administered at a dose of 5 mg/kg/day one day before BMT and at 3 mg/kg/day until the 20th day after BMT to the patients in order to prevent graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Thereafter, oral cyclosporin A at 6 mg/kg/day was begun and continued for 6 to 12 months. Chronic GVHD developed in 3 patients. Established GVHD was treated with a combination of intravenous methylprednisolone or oral prednisolone and cyclosporin A. Doses were tapered when GVHD was controlled clinically.During the 3-yr study period, pre-BMT and yearly BMD were measured. BMDs of the lumbar spine (lumbar vertebrae L2-L4) and of the total proximal femur were measured by dual-energy radiography absorptiometry (DEXA) using a Lunar Expert (Lunar, Madison, WI, U.S.A. Loss of bone mass is usually detected after bone marrow transplantation (BMT) during the early post-transplant period. However, little is known about the long-term effects of BMT on bone metabolism. We have prospectively investigated 11 patients undergoing BMT. Bone mineral density (BMD) was measured before BMT, and 1, 2, and 3 yr after BMT. Serum markers of bone turnover were serially measured before BMT and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 12 weeks, 6 months, and 1 yr after BMT. The mean change in the lumbar spine (L2-4) BMD,...