Contemporary Medical Management of Primary Hyperparathyroidism:A Systematic Review

IntroductionPrimary hyperparathyroidism is increasingly an asymptomatic disease at diagnosis, but the recognized guidelines for management are based on evidence obtained from studies on patients with symptomatic disease, and surgery is not always indicated. Other patients are unable to undergo surgery, and thus a medical treatment is warranted. This systematic review provides an overview of the existing literature on contemporary pharmaceutical options available for the medical management of primary hyperparathyroidism.MethodsDatabases of medical literature were searched for articles including terms for primary hyperparathyroidism and each of the included drugs. Data on s-calcium, s-parathyroid hormone, bone turnover markers, bone mineral density (BMD) and hard endpoints were extracted and tabulated, and level of evidence was determined. Changes in s-calcium were estimated and a meta-regression analysis was performed.ResultsThe 1,999 articles were screened for eligibility and 54 were included in the review. Weighted mean changes calculated for each drug in s-total calcium (mean change from baseline ± SEM) were pamidronate (0.31 ± 0.034 mmol/l); alendronate (0.07 ± 0.05 mmol/l); clodronate (0.20 ± 0.040 mmol/l); mixed bisphosphonates (0.16 ± 0.049 mmol/l); and cinacalcet (0.37 ± 0.013 mmol/l). The meta-analysis revealed a significant decrease of effect on s-calcium with time for the bisphosphonates (Coef. −0.049 ± 0.023, p = 0.035), while cinacalcet proved to maintain its effect on s-calcium over time. Bisphosphonates improved BMD while cinacalcet had no effect.DiscussionThe included studies demonstrate advantages and drawbacks of the available pharmaceutical options that can prove helpful in the clinical setting. The great variation in how primary hyperparathyroidism is manifested requires that management should rely on an individual evaluation when counseling patients. Combining resorptive agents with calcimimetics could prove rewarding, but more studies are warranted

Associations between trabecular bone score and biochemistry in surgically vs conservatively treated outpatients with primary hyperparathyroidism:A retrospective cohort study

Purpose: Trabecular Bone Score (TBS) is a software-based method for indirect assessment of trabecular bone structure of the spine, based on analysis of pixels in dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) images. Few studies describe the use of TBS in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). This study aimed at further describing this relationship, investigating possible correlations between biochemistry, body mass index (BMI), fracture incidence and TBS. Methods: Cross-sectional study of 195 patients with verified PHPT, surgically (27) or conservatively (168) treated at the Department of Endocrinology, Aalborg University Hospital. TBS was acquired by reanalyzing DXA-images of the included subjects from the outpatient clinic. Biochemical variables were obtained from clinical routine blood samples taken in relation to the DXA-scans. History of fractures and medical history was obtained from radiology reports and medical charts. Results: Patients with active PHPT had a TBS-score signifying a partly degraded bone structure, whereas surgically treated patients had a normal bone structure as judged by TBS, though the difference in TBS-score was not statistically significant. Use of antiresorptive treatment was negatively associated with BMD but not TBS. No correlations between the biochemical variables and TBS were found. A negative correlation between TBS and BMI in patients with PHPT was present. Patients experiencing a fragility fracture had a significantly lowered TBS, BMD and T-Score. Conclusion: Biochemistry does not seem to predict bone status in terms of TBS in patients with PHPT. TBS is negatively correlated to BMI, which is also seen in patients not suffering from PHPT. The lack of a predictive value for antiresorptive treatment for TBS may raise concern. TBS appears to have a predictive value when assessing risk of fracture in patients with PHPT. Mini abstract: This cross-sectional study investigates possible correlations between biochemical variables, body mass index (BMI) and trabecular bone score (TBS) in 195 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. It finds no correlation between biochemical variables and TBS, but finds a negative correlation between TBS and BMI and a clear association between fracture incidence and low TBS-score. Keywords: Primary hyperparathyroidism, Trabecular bone score, Body mass index, Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, Biochemical variable

Contemporary Medical Management of Primary Hyperparathyroidism:A Systematic Review

IntroductionPrimary hyperparathyroidism is increasingly an asymptomatic disease at diagnosis, but the recognized guidelines for management are based on evidence obtained from studies on patients with symptomatic disease, and surgery is not always indicated. Other patients are unable to undergo surgery, and thus a medical treatment is warranted. This systematic review provides an overview of the existing literature on contemporary pharmaceutical options available for the medical management of primary hyperparathyroidism.MethodsDatabases of medical literature were searched for articles including terms for primary hyperparathyroidism and each of the included drugs. Data on s-calcium, s-parathyroid hormone, bone turnover markers, bone mineral density (BMD) and hard endpoints were extracted and tabulated, and level of evidence was determined. Changes in s-calcium were estimated and a meta-regression analysis was performed.ResultsThe 1,999 articles were screened for eligibility and 54 were included in the review. Weighted mean changes calculated for each drug in s-total calcium (mean change from baseline ± SEM) were pamidronate (0.31 ± 0.034 mmol/l); alendronate (0.07 ± 0.05 mmol/l); clodronate (0.20 ± 0.040 mmol/l); mixed bisphosphonates (0.16 ± 0.049 mmol/l); and cinacalcet (0.37 ± 0.013 mmol/l). The meta-analysis revealed a significant decrease of effect on s-calcium with time for the bisphosphonates (Coef. −0.049 ± 0.023, p = 0.035), while cinacalcet proved to maintain its effect on s-calcium over time. Bisphosphonates improved BMD while cinacalcet had no effect.DiscussionThe included studies demonstrate advantages and drawbacks of the available pharmaceutical options that can prove helpful in the clinical setting. The great variation in how primary hyperparathyroidism is manifested requires that management should rely on an individual evaluation when counseling patients. Combining resorptive agents with calcimimetics could prove rewarding, but more studies are warranted