Yonsei Med J.  2005 Jun;46(3):313-320. 10.3349/ymj.2005.46.3.313.

Efficacy of Oral Etidronate for Skeletal Diseases in Japan

• Iwamoto J
• Takeda T
• Sato Y

• KMID: 1734064
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2005.46.3.313

Abstract

Etidronate is an oral bisphosphonate compound that is known to reduce bone resorption through the inhibition of osteoclastic activity. The efficacy of etidronate for involutional (postmenopausal and senile) and glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis, as well as that for other skeletal diseases, was reviewed in Japanese patients. Cyclical etidronate treatment (200 mg or 400mg/day for 2 weeks about every 3 months) increases the lumbar bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with involutional osteoporosis and prevents incident vertebral fractures in patients with glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis. The losses of the lumbar BMD in patients with liver cirrhosis and the metacarpal BMD in hemiplegic patients after stroke are prevented, and the lumbar BMD is possibly increased, preventing fragile fractures in adult patients with osteogenesis imperfecta type I. Furthermore, proximal bone resorption around the femoral stem is reduced and some complications may be prevented in patients who undergo cementless total hip arthroplasty. Oral etidronate treatment may also help to transiently relieve metastatic cancer bone pain followed by a decrease in abnormally raised bone resorption in patients with painful bone metastases from primary cancer sites, such as the lung, breast and prostate. Thus, oral etidronate treatment is suggested to be efficacious for osteoporosis, as well as other skeletal diseases associated with increased bone resorption, in Japanese patients. Randomized controlled trials needed to be conducted on a large number of patients to confirm these effects.

Keyword

Postmenopausal women; glucocorticoid; disuse; cancer bone metastasis; etidronate

MeSH Terms

Administration, Oral
Bone Diseases/*drug therapy
Etidronic Acid/*administration & dosage
Humans
Japan

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Changes in Face Scale Score with Treatment in M Group. Data are expressed as mean±SD. The significance of the longitudinal changes in face scale score was determined by one-way ANOVA with repeated measurements. Data comparison among the time points was performed by paired t-test. One-way ANOVA with repeated measurement showed that face scale score significantly decreased (p < 0.001). Paired t-test showed that face scale score at weeks and 2 and 12 was significantly lower than that at week 0 (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively), but there was no significant difference in face scale score between weeks 2 and 12. *p < 0.01 vs week 0, **p < 0.001 vs week 0.

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