The bisphosphonates comprise a class of therapeutic agents that inhibit bone resorption and are frequently used in medicine in the treatment of among others osteoporosis, skeletal metastases from solid tumours, hypercalcaemia of malignancy, multiple myeloma and Paget’s disease [1]. First synthesised in 1865 in Germany, their use had been primarily industrial as these molecules proved to be powe...

INTRODUCTION Hyperprolactinemia is an uncommon cause of erectile dysfunction in men. Paget's disease of the skull is a relatively common disease. This case proposes a rare example of a causative link between the two and how treatment of the Paget's disease with bisphosphonates helped the patient regain erectile function. CASE PRESENTATION A 67-year-old man with Paget's disease of the skull pr...

Bisphosphonates are bone-turnover modulating drugs which are used in the management of a number of bone diseases ranging from osteoporosis to neoplasic pathology-associated osteolysis. In the last years a number of cases of osteonecrosis of the jaws associated with these drugs have been reported. In this review we analyze the cases published in the literature indexed from 2003 to December 2005....

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed and second deadliest cancer among women. Bisphosphonates are stable pyrophosphate analogues used to treat skeletal-related events resulting from bone metastases. In the adjuvant setting, they have been shown to prevent aromatase inhibitor-associated and chemotherapy-induced bone loss. There is a growing body of evidence that bisphosphonates have di...

Bisphosphonates are agents commonly used in the treatment of osteoporosis, and in the management of metastatic bone disease, and of hypercalcaemia of malignancy. Any oral surgical procedure or traumatic event exposing bone to bacterial infection may precipitate osteonecrosis of the jaw in subjects who have been treated with bisphosphonates which suppress bone turnover and inhibit the angiogenes...

Dear Editor, Osteoporosis is a growing problem in our ageing population. With increasing awareness of osteoporosis, it can be diagnosed and treated with first-line drugs such as bisphosphonates. However, there have been increasing reports of atypical fractures resulting from prolonged bisphosphonate therapy. These have largely been described in the subtrochanteric region of the femur1 and found...

Context It is now recognised that fractures of the subtrochanteric femur or femoral shaft (ST/FS fractures) can be divided radiologically into (1) typical fractures and (2) atypical fractures. The latter appear to be rare in patients untreated by bisphosphonates. In this new study, Park-Wyllie et al used Ontario claims data to investigate the association between the amount of bisphosphonates ta...

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are drugs that act primarily to inhibit osteoclast activity and bone resorption, used in many clinical conditions associated with excessive bone resorption. Aim of this review is to investigate the effects of BPs on orthodontic tooth movement. All selected studies showed that orthodontic tooth movement is reduced after BPs administration, with not clear effect on root reso...

Vitamin D intoxication remains a challenging problem due to lack of an efficient treatment. Bisphosphonates, inhibitors of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, however, have been proposed as a safe and effective alternative in the treatment of vitamin D intoxication. We present here two infants with vitamin D intoxication who were successfully treated with alendronate. We propose that oral alen...

The medical management of a patient with cancer involves three essential components: prevention of cancer-related morbidity, management of the side effects of anticancer therapy, and most importantly, control of tumor growth. Bisphosphonates are effective on all three of these fronts, as highlighted in the review by Drs. Blanchette and Pritchard.[1] However, despite years of research on the rol...