Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2009) 20 P240

ECE2009 Poster Presentations Bone/Calcium (42 abstracts)

The effect of short term human chorionic gonadotropin treatment on the improvement of bone mass in patients with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism

Erol Bolu 1 , Alper Sonmez 1 , Mehmet Apikoglu 2 , Hasan Gurel 2 , Ozdes Emer 3 , Abdullah Taslipinar 1 , M Ali Ozguven 3 & Mustafa Kutlu 1


1Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Gulhane Military Medical School, Etlik, Ankara, Turkey; 2Department of Internal Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical School, Etlik, Ankara, Turkey; 3Department of Nuclear Medicine, Gulhane Military Medical School, Etlik, Ankara, Turkey.


Background: Idiopatic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism is a congenital abnormality due to GnRH deficiency which is associated with severe osteoporosis. Testosterone replacement has been shown to improve the loss in the bone mass. The aim of the present retrospective analysis was to measure the effect of human chorionic gonadotropin treatment on the improvement of bone mineral density.

Methods: A total number of 96 young male (mean age 21±3.7 years) patients with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism who were not currently under any drug treatment were enrolled. The baseline bone mineral densities were measured from the lumbal region and femur neck by using dual X-ray absorbtiometry (DEXA). All patients were treated with human chorionic gonadotropin 1500 Units 3 times/week for 6 to 9 months.

Results: The patients had severe osteoporosis according to the measurements from different regions (L1–4 BMD: 0.742 g/cm2, L1–4 Z-score: −3.04; Femur Neck BMD: 0.809 g/cm2, Z-score: −0.81; Distal Radius BMD:0.622 g/cm2, Z-score: −3.38). After the treatment period (7.4±2.1 months), significant improvements were observed the lumbal regions and femur neck (P<0.001 for both), but no significant short term effect was seen in the distal radius.

Discussion: The results of the present study show that short term human chorionic gonadotropin improves bone mineral density in the lumbal vertebrae and the femur neck but has no significant effect on distal radius. Further studies in different regions with longer periods are warranted to assess the differential effect of gonadotrophins on the bone mineral density.

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