Osteoporosis is a metabolic disorder of bone tissue. The small pores of the bone enlarge and turn into a spongy tissue, bone density decreases and the bone becomes weak and brittle. It is obvious that as fragility increases, the risk of fracture will also increase. The medical term for osteoporosis is osteoporosis. Osteo means bone porosis, or small pore (hole).
Bone is a living tissue. There is a continuous chain of construction and destruction reactions in this tissue where active life continues. The destruction reaction means the removal of the bone tissue that has lost its vitality from the body, and the construction reaction means the regeneration and renewal of the bone. If the construction reactions are less than the destruction reactions or the destruction is more than the formation, the integrity of the bone tissue is disrupted. Thus, even the smallest trauma such as impact or fall creates a risk of fracture. Although osteoporosis occurs in all races and in both genders, male or female, the highest risk of fracture is in white and Asian women, especially in older post-menopausal women. There are many risk factors that cause bones to weaken. These risk factors are:
Genetic tendency Sedentary life Calcium deficiency Vitamin D deficiency Smoking-alcohol habit Using cortisone drugs Decrease in gender-specific hormones with advancing age (for example, the rapid decrease in the level of estrogen hormone in women in the post-menopausal period)
Conditions that weaken bones such as nutritional deficiency Low body weight Genetic diseases such as osteogenesis imperfecta (glass bone-blue sclera disease)-Marfan Syndrome-Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (rubber boy syndrome)
Chronic diseases of the liver and kidneys Public Goiter, which is an excess of thyroid hormone, also known as toxic goiter. Tumors of the parathyroid gland, which is located right next to the thyroid gland (parathyroid hormone secreted excessively due to this tumor, weakens the bones by rapidly drawing calcium from the bones into the blood). Cancers that increase bone destruction reactions (for example, multiple myeloma)
Cancers originating directly from the bone (e.g. osteosarcoma) Cancers spreading to the bone (lung-prostate-breast-kidney-thyroid cancers most commonly involve bone)
The most commonly broken bones are hip bones, vertebral chain bones, ankle bones. If you pay attention, these bones are the bones of the areas where the body weight is loaded the most.
. Other bones are also at risk of damage or fracture, for example, severe sneezing or coughing can cause rib fractures.
Bone resorption does not cause a specific complaint that warns the patient in advance. It may go unnoticed for years without causing any discomfort, but it is usually noticed whenever a bone fracture occurs. However, some complaints of the patient, such as back, waist and leg pain, may be guiding for the doctor. Osteoporosis negatively affects the patient's quality of life. Inactivity and loss of work force caused by pain also disrupt the patient's psychology. In osteoporosis, which is generally an advanced age disease, when factors such as arteriosclerosis, etc. are added to the patient's advanced age, a sedentary lifestyle increases blood clotting. This may lead to vascular occlusion. Occlusion of the pulmonary vessels (pulmonary embolism) is an important life-threatening complication in elderly patients who are bedridden for a long time due to hip fracture.
The diagnosis of osteoporosis is made by x-ray and bone density measurement rather than blood tests. For treatment, medications that increase bone formation and reduce its destruction are given. If reasons such as calcium and vitamin D deficiency are thought to be the cause of osteoporosis, supportive measures such as replacing the missing vitamins-minerals etc., quitting harmful habits such as smoking and alcohol, reviewing the treatment if the patient is receiving cortisone treatment, applying an appropriate exercise program if the patient is sedentary. receivable.
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