Featured Cases: Vitamin D and Bone Health

Volume 2, Issue 8.

In 2002, the CF Foundation convened a consensus conference. This consensus conference developed specific recommendations for the prevention of bone disease and the optimal supplementation of vitamin D for patients with cystic fibrosis. The original consensus guidelines did not have any actual demonstration in cystic fibrosis patients, and most of this was expert opinion. And at this time we are actually trying to test these guidelines to see if they hold true in those with cystic fibrosis. Since patients with cystic fibrosis are living longer, they are developing more complications, such as bone disease, and insuring that vitamin D supplementation is adequate and figuring out new ways to prevent bone disease is becoming more and more important for CF patients. In the discussion today, Peter Mogayzel, MD and Dianna Green, MD, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will focus on the basis of the current vitamin D recommendation for patients with cystic fibrosis, describe the potential for success of various strategies for treatment of vitamin D insufficiency, and compare the potential benefits and risks of using bisphosphonates for the treatment of osteoporosis in patients with cystic fibrosis.