Image courtesy of: Imperial College London
http://www1.imperial.ac.uk/resources/E4E94257-A44D-4378-B63D-19AFA17D0E26/
How does Forteo work to heal these fractures?
In this study Doctor's realized that Forteo had the ability to turn on the bodys' own stem cell mechanism which in turn rapidly causes new bone growth by osteoblast stimulation. With this increase in osteoblast activity, the bone responds by creating callus formation-new bone-at either ends of the broken bones making it a great alternative to surgical repair with internal fixation. According to Dr. Puzas, "Teriparatide significantly speeds up fracture healing by changing the behavior and number of the cartilage and the bone stem cells involved in the process."
What are the risks of pelvic fractures?
Patients with these types of fracture suffer greatly with extremely limited movement and pain, so many end up in nursing homes where they need full time care. Most people don't realize that pelvic fractures are just as incapacitating and dangerous as hip fractures, with similar statistics on the numbers of individuals who suffer greatly reduced quality of life and fracture-related deaths with each of these types of fractures.
What are the benefits of this treatment?
Non-healing fractures can be treated in a very short time, affording the patient the ability to walk again in a much shorter time, and live an independent life.
If these patients see this tremendous increase in fracture healing and pain reduction, the possibility of having to go to a nursing home drops dramatically and the need for nursing home care may be eliminated.
The cost of the treatment with Forteo is expensive, but still much less than the cost that would incur if the patient had to have surgery or needed the assistance of a nursing home; also their quality of life is dramatically improved.
The results seen so far in this study are extremely encouraging, which is prompting other Doctors to use Forteo, to help their patients with various kinds of slow-healing fractures.
This study is recruiting post-menopausal women and men over the age of 50 who come to the Strong Memorial Hospital, in New York, with "low-energy pelvic fractures." One group will get Forteo and the other a placebo. The groups will be followed for 16 weeks to access their progress, using various testing modalities.
