The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of physical, function, and emothional disability caused by osteoporosis and vertebral compression fractures in women who have recevied a liver transplant. We planned to enroll 20 women and treat half with calcitonin. The methods included measurement of done density and tests of physical function. Unfortunately, we were unable to recruit adequate numbers of patients for this study. We believe this difficulty was due to two issues. First, patients were not aware of the fact that they might develop osteoporosis and therefore were facing a liver transplant which was a tremendous burden for them and they were unwilling to consider the possibility of another disease. Second, many of the patients refused to consider a therapy that involved daily injections of a medication. This in fact, has been born out because the industry sponsors that make calcitonin now have a nasal spray but this was not available when the protocol was started.
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