Whether calcitonin deficiency causes and calcitonin excess prevents bone loss is controversial. We therefore measured plasma calcitonin levels and bone mineral density at the radius (by single photon absorptiometry) and lumbar spine (dual photon absorptiometry) in patients with an excess or deficiency of calcitonin. We studied 21 patients who had undergone subtotal thyroidectomy 6.8 to 29 years previously and had no calcitonin secretory reserve, and 11 patients who had received a diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma 6.8 to 23 years previously and had chronic hyper-calcitoninemia.

Bone-density values, expressed as Z-scores (i.e., as the number of standard deviations above or below the normal means adjusted for age and sex), were indistinguishable from normal in the patients who had undergone thyroidectomy (means ±SE: radius, 0.36±0.15; spine, 0.27±0.17). In the patients with medullary thyroid cancer, radial bone-density values were normal (-0.26±0.39), but spinal density was significantly reduced (-0.75±0.17, P<0.01). There were no significant correlations between the duration of calcitonin excess or deficiency and the bone density at either site. Bone mineral density was not affected by whether or not thyroxine replacement therapy was given.

We conclude that skeletal mass is not affected by endogenous plasma calcitonin in adults. (N Engl J Med 1987; 317:537–41.)