Partial body calcium measurements on patients with renal failure.

The bone calcium status of 39 patients with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis has been measured by in vivo neutron activation analysis (IVNAA) and reported in terms of a calcium bone index (CaBl) which relates the calcium in a patient to that in a normal person of the same height. In 20 of the 39 cases sequential measurements were made over periods of up to 40 mo. The results are compared with data obtained by radiology and by histological examination of bone biopsies. CaBl values varied from below normal to, in one case, above the range of normal. Many of the higher values were associated with demonstrable osteosclerosis. As found in previous work here with IVNAA, significantly low values of CaBl were associated with vertebral deformities; however, some patients with deformity had normal CaBl values, indicating that these had both local mineral loss (resulting in fracture) and osteosclerosis. Taken all together, the data suggest that more than half the patients have osteosclerosis. Sequential data showed no uniform response to treatment.