Question

1. A surgeon was removing a tumor from the thyroid gland of a middle-aged-to-elderly female patient, who, at the time, also happened to be suffering from osteoporosis. Her osteoporosis was not the reason for the surgery.  But, during the ensuing months after the surgery, her osteoporosis seemed to improve slightly or at least, not get worse.  Explain what and how this might have happened. [By the way, osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disease that progressively weakens the bones over time and is most often due to a variety of factors, such as age, low estrogen levels, poor lifestyle choices and genetics.].

Answer 1

Tumours of the thyroid causes hyperthyroidism that is excess release of thyroid hormones.

This thyroid hormones act on bones and decreases bone density by severely affecting bone calcium metabolism and hence, replaces bone which causes bone loss making bone weak and porous.

Osteoporosis is a condition in which bones becomes porous due to decreased density as a result of continous calcium loss.

After thyroid tumour removal, thyroid hormones are under control and hence excessive bone resorption is prevented, which can slightly improve or will not worse the conditions.