Osteoporosis historical perspective
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Raviteja Guddeti, M.B.B.S. [2] Charmaine Patel, M.D. [3]
Overview
Osteoporosis was first seen in Egyptian mummies from over 4000 years ago, which showed the telltale sign of osteoporosis called "Dowager's Hump". John Hunter, a surgeon from the 1800's, was the first person to recognize that old bone is resorbed by the body and destroyed, as new bone is laid down. In the 1830's, the French pathologist, Jean Georges Chretien Frederic Martin Lobstein noticed that some patients had bones that had larger than normal holes in them. He coined the term "osteoporosis" to describe the porous bone.
Historical perspective
- The link between age-related reductions in bone density and fracture risk goes back at least to Astley Cooper, and the term "osteoporosis" and recognition of its pathological appearance is generally attributed to the French pathologist Lobstein.[1]
- The American endocrinologist Fuller Albright of Massachussets General Hospital, linked osteoporosis with the postmenopausal state.[2]
- In the 1940's, Fuller Albright started treating menopausal women with estrogen to prevent further bone loss.
- In the 1960's, researchers developed more sensitive methods to detect early bone loss, such as densitometers.
- Bisphosponates which inhibit bone resorption, and revolutionized the treatment of osteoporosis, were discovered in the 1960s by Herbert Fleisch.[3]
- SERM's (Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators) were then discovered, and found to block breast tumors and to stimulate the growth of uterine cells.
- In 1984, the National Institute of Health (NIH)publicized this disease
References
- ↑ Lobstein JGCFM. Lehrbuch der pathologischen Anatomie. Stuttgart: Bd II, 1835.
- ↑ Albright F, Bloomberg E, Smith PH (1940). "Postmenopausal osteoporosis". Trans. Assoc. Am. Physicians. 55: 298–305.
- ↑ Patlak M (2001). "Bone builders: the discoveries behind preventing and treating osteoporosis". FASEB J. 15 (10): 1677E–E. PMID 11481214.