India's first bone health programme launched in Lucknow

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

India's first bone health programme was launched recently at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow.

''It is a new milestone in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis which is fast acquiring an alarming position in the country,'' says Dr Ambrish Mithal, additional professor in the institute's department of endocrinology.

Dr Mithal has played a key role in the setting up of the Indian Society for Bone and Mineral Research which concentrates on the treatment and research of osteoporosis. Headed by Dr M M S Ahuja of Delhi, the society has roped in several NRI experts including Dr Ajay Gupta and Dr Sudhakar Rao of the Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, who are the society's chairman and vice-president respectively.

The country's first bone densitometer has also been acquired by the SGPGIMS to facilitate detection of bone diseases. ''The machine, costing Rs 6 million, features the world's most advanced DEXA (Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry) technique, the only bone densitometry system approved by the American Food and Drug Administration,'' said Dr Mithal.

Though no confirmed statistics are available on the spread of osteoporosis in India, unofficial estimates say that more than 50 million persons are affected by the disease. ''This means that India's problem is far more serious than that of the US which has only 15 million osteoporosis patients,'' said Dr Mithal. However, a US medical journal says there are more than 15 million undiagnosed cases -- all of them women -- in the US.

'Studies suggest that a fourth of all women over 60 have experienced spinal-compression fractures, the small vertebral breaks that gradually collapse the spine into a dowager's hump,' the journal pointed out.

''It is high time we create awareness about the seriousness of the disease besides making people realise that a stitch in time would really save nine,'' said Dr Mithal. The facility now available at the SGPGIMS can detect the disease well before the broken hip-stage, when it can be cured.

According to him, the difficulty so far is that X-rays cannot detect the disease till a fourth or more of the affected bone's mineral content is gone. ''With a DEXA machine even one per cent loss in bone strength can be detected in 10 to 15 minutes,'' he said. The fee for a complete scan of bones is Rs 500, said institute director Dr Mahendra Bhandari.

Since osteoporosis is more common in post-menopausal women, its early detection would help postpone menopause by means of medication, said Dr Mithal. He added that regular and adequate intake of calcium could prevent the occurrence of the disease.

Expressing concern over the lack of awareness among physicians themselves, "who have often regarded osteoporosis as a part of the ageing process," Dr Mithal said the scanning facility should be made available in more parts of the country if ''we want to avoid an epidemic of shattered bones''.