HCV, Combo & Osteoporosis

  : After non responding to a year of Rebatron therapy,
  : I've recently been diagnosed with "severe osteoporosis",
  : my bone density is 44% lower than it should be for a 52 year old
  : male. I'm seeing an endocrinologist in a week and am wondering
  : if any one is aware of other cases where osteoporosis and HCV
  : or its treatments might be related.
  : Thanks
  

[HFHSM.D.-D.M.]

_
Dear John and Mary Ann:
I was really intrigued about your questions.  I have not really thought much about hepatitis C, interferon and osteoporosis and your questions gave me an opportunity to do so.
I did some computerized literature searches.  I found a couple of articles that found a correlation between viral hepatitis (hepatitis is a viral hepatitis) and osteoporosis.  I found these article very intriguing and it is a reminder for me to keep aware of this problem in my patients.  Especially now that we have good treatments for osteoporosis.  This is the reference for one article.  It is in the journal Hepatology.  Any good sized medical library should have it.
Gallego-Rojo FJ. Gonzalez-Calvin JL. Munoz-Torres M. Mundi JL. Fernandez-Perez R. Rodrigo-Moreno D. Bone mineral density, serum insulin-like growth factor I, and bone turnover markers in viral cirrhosis. Hepatology. 28(3):695-9, 1998 Sep.
Ironically, I couldn