[Low dose estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) for postmenopausal hemodialysis (HD) patients].

We studied the short-time effects of low dose estradiol (E2) on bone metabolism in hemodialysis (HD) patients. We prescribed transdermal E2 (0.36 mg every other day) to 17 non-diabetic postmenopausal osteoporotic HD patients and measured intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), serum NTX (sNTX), intact osteocalcin (iOC), and bone resorptive cytokines including IL-6 and TNF-alpha. Serum E2 increased from 20 to approximately 40 pg/mL, which is comparable to that of male HD patients. Three-month treatment decreased serum calcium by 0.7 mg/dL followed by a significant elevation of iPTH and iOC. Despite the increase of iPTH, collagen breakdown product, sNTX did not change significantly, implying decreased skeletal sensitivity to PTH resorbing effect. IL-6 and TNF-alpha decreased, but this trend was not statistically significant. Bone pain and/or pain from carpal tunnel syndrome resolved by ERT. We needed to dose-up active vitamin D to control enhanced iPTH. Our data suggests that E2 attenuates the resorbing effect of PTH and stimulates bone formation, also in HD patients.