Bisphosphonates are a class of drugs that prevent the loss of bone mass, used to treat osteoporosis and similar diseases. They are the most commonly prescribed drugs used to treat osteoporosis. They are called bisphosphonates because they have two phosphonate (PO(OH)
2) groups.
2) groups.
Evidence shows that they reduce the risk of fracture in post-menopausal women with osteoporosis.
Medicinal Uses
Bisphosphonates are used to treat osteoporosis, osteitis deformans (Paget's disease of the bone), bone metastasis (with or without hypercalcaemia), multiple myeloma, and other conditions involving fragile, breakable bone.
Bisphosphonates are recommended as a first line treatments for post-menopausal osteoporosis.
Bisphosphonates reduce the risk of fracture and bone pain in people with breast, lung, and other metastatic cancers as well as in people with multiple myeloma.
Adverse effects
Oral bisphosphonates can cause upset stomach and inflammation and erosions of the esophagus, which is the main problem of oral N-containing preparations. This can be prevented by remaining seated upright for 30 to 60 minutes after taking the medication. Intravenous bisphosphonates can give fever and flu-like symptoms after the first infusion, which is thought to occur because of their potential to activate human γδ T cells.
Bisphosphonates, when administered intravenously for the treatment of cancer, have been associated with osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ), with the mandible twice as frequently affected as the maxilla and most cases occurring following high-dose intravenous administration used for some cancer patients.
In large studies, women taking bisphosphonates for osteoporosis have had unusual fractures ("bisphosphonate fractures") in the femur (thigh bone) in the shaft (diaphysis or sub-trochanteric region) of the bone, rather than at the femoral neck, which is the most common site of fracture. However, these unusual fractures are extremely rare (12 in 14,195 women) compared to the common hip fractures (272 in 14,195 women), and the overall reduction in hip fractures caused by bisphosphonate far outweighed the unusual shaft fractures.
Pharmacokinetics
Of the bisphosphonate that is resorbed (from oral preparation) or infused (for intravenous drugs), about 50% is excreted unchanged by the kidney. The remainder has a very high affinity for bone tissue, and is rapidly adsorbed onto the bone surface.
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