Renal osteodystrophy

ABSTRACT

Renal osteodystrophy embraces the various forms of metabolic bone diseases which develop in chronic renal failure and includes osteomalacia, secondary and tertiary hyper-parathyroidism, osteoporosis and osteosclerosis. Patients with chronic renal failure are common in our community and their prevalence is going to increase in the near future due to prolonged survival of these cases because of frequent use of dialysis and, at times, renal transplantation in their management. Inspite of the fact that renal osteodystrophy is a common complication of end-stage renal failure, and that it is both preventable and treatable. Lack of awareness exists to recognise and treat this condition. The aim of this article is to create an awareness among clinicians to look for this condition in patients with CRF and institute appropriate preventive and therapeutic measures well in time to decrease morbidity from this common complication of CRF. A case history of a patient with advanced renal osteodystrophy is presented followed by discussion: