• Sebastian Seitz, F Timo Beil, Florian Barvencik, Christoph von Domarus, Johannes M Rueger, and Michael Amling.
• Department of Trauma, Hand, and Reconstructive Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany. sseitz@uke.uni-hamburg.de.
• Eur J Trauma Emerg S. 2008 Dec 1;34(6):542-8.

AbstractOsteoporosis is a multifactorial disorder that requires advanced diagnostic evaluation tools. It should not be considered to be an inevitable disease entity or as a logical consequence of the physiological ageing process. Osteoporosis can be diagnosed and - more importantly - properly treated. It is therefore incomprehensible that most of the patients with diagnosed osteoporosis do not receive a specific pharmacotherapeutic treatment. Since orthopedic trauma surgeons most often see a patient with an osteoporosis-associated fracture on a first-hand basis, they, after providing adequate treatment of the fracture, must play a key role in initiating the primary diagnostics and therapy according to national or international guidelines for patients with previous osteoporotic fractures. Treatment should be closely coordinated with general practitioners so that a continuation of the therapy initiated in the hospital can be guaranteed. Basic measures for fracture prevention, including dietary supplements of calcium and vitamin D, should be recommended and implemented for all patients, whereas only those patients with the diagnosis of a manifest osteoporosis should receive a specific pharmacotherapy. Antiresorptive and anabolic drugs that are licensed for the treatment of men or postmenopausal women with osteoporosis have been shown to effectively reduce the incidence of vertebral and non-vertebral fractures. An evaluation of the treatment efficiency should also be performed, such as routine clinical re-evaluation and the measuring of the bone mineral density by dual X-ray absortiometry, every 18-24 months after the initiation of the pharmacotherapy.

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