Considerations on thermal behaviour and porosity of renal calculi in bisphosphonate -treated postmenopausal women

Abstract

Scientific data assess the connection between decreased bone mineral density, osteoporosis, and renal urolithiasis in postmenopausal women and point out the risk of recurrence in these stone-former patients. A longitudinal, randomized, five year follow-up clinical and experimental study was conducted during May 1, 2011 - June 30, 2016. A number of 125 eligible postmenopausal women (BMD T-score spine (-2.8 ± 0.5)); BMD at the femoral hip (-2.6 ± 0.8), treated only with biphosphonates, were enrolled in the study. The patient's age ranged between 60 and 65 years. All the women were stone formers, with more than five episodes of crystalluria in the last five years. Exclusion criteria: Kidney chronic diseases, use of drugs known to affect bone metabolism and renal function, patients with multi-morbidities. The aim of our study was to assess the connection between postmenopausal osteoporosis and the risk of worsening calcium balance in urolithiasis, based on the complex thermogravimetric findings and porosity studies of renal stones eliminated by these patients. The study of renal-urinary concretions offers the possibility to amplify the specific effects of the thermal decomposition processes of substances, reflecting the sample's global composition. The research of calculi porosity gives information about the dissolution possibilities of the renal-urinary concretions. In conclusion, in postmenopausal women, proper administration of bisphosphonate therapy must accompany the supplementary medication with calcium and vitamin D, always correlated to the metabolic status of the osteoporotic patient.