Metabolic Bone Clinic
Improving the Bone Health of Children Through Comprehensive, Compassionate and Quality Care
Metabolic Bone Clinic
The Metabolic Bone Clinic at Nationwide Children’s Hospital offers children and adolescents with low bone density access to comprehensive evaluation, diagnosis, and management of various skeletal disorders. At the Bone Clinic, we strive to provide comprehensive, compassionate, and quality care as we work towards our goal of improving children’s bone health.
Nationwide Children's Hospital is ranked by U.S. News & World Report for Nephrology.
About Pediatric Osteopenia and Osteoporosis
Once considered a disease primarily affecting postmenopausal women, osteopenia/osteoporosis has become an increasing health concern in pediatric medicine. Mineralization of bone is a dynamic process that occurs continually throughout childhood until peak bone mass is attained during late adolescence and early adulthood.
Because bone mineralization can be affected by multiple factors, including nutrition, physical activity, chronic illness, and medications, many children with congenital disorders or acquired conditions experience disturbances in normal bone growth and mineralization, which can have both immediate and long-term consequences on their overall health.
Conditions We Treat
- Primary Osteopenia/Osteoporosis, Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI)
- Osteopenia/Osteoporosis secondary to chronic medical disorders including, but not limited to, the following:
- Malabsorption
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease
- Cystic Fibrosis
- Chronic kidney disease
- Sustained glucocorticoid therapy
- Chemotherapy and radiation
- Cerebral Palsy (CP) / Immobilization
- Rheumatology disorders
- Rickets (nutritional, hypophosphatemic, etc)
- Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
- Ehlers Danlos Syndrome with Associated Bleeding Disorders
- Fibrous Dysplasia
- Hypophosphatasia
- Low bone density
Meet Our Team
Our physicians, nurse practitioners and nurses are experts in Nephrology, Endocrinology, Complex Health, Genetics, Gastroenterology and Radiology. We provide genetic counseling, evaluations for and support access to care for nutritional, hormonal, or metabolic abnormalities, and we provide dentistry consultations.
Comprehensive Services
- Laboratory evaluation to identify nutritional, hormonal, or metabolic abnormalities
- Assessment of bone mineral density (BMD) using dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans and Q CT scans
- Treatment with IV or oral bisphosphonates and other bone-promoting agents
- Comprehensive genetic counseling and evaluation available for congenital and familial causes of metabolic bone disease
- Potential for enrollment in research studies investigating the efficacy and safety of medications to treat low bone mass in children and adolescents
- Dentistry consultations available for patients with bone disorders including those receiving bisphosphonate treatment
- Nutrition assessments performed as needed