Drugs belonging to the group of bisphosphonates like aredia are good in strengthening the bone in cancer patients including breast cancer. There is a downside to this group of drugs. These drugs can erode the jaw bone and literally dissolve the jaw bone.

This condition, called osteonecrosis of the jaw, is marked by exposed bone in the jaw and can lead to infection, inflammation and pain.

While scientists do not fully understand the condition or what causes it, osteonecrosis of the jaw, or ONJ, appears to occur in individuals who have been treated with drugs called bisphosphonates, which are used to improve bone strength. When treating bone affected by cancer, the bisphosphonates are given intravenously and have been shown to decrease the risk of skeletal complications such as fracture.

"Osteonecrosis of the jaw is not a common condition. It appears to occur in 1 percent to 10 percent of patients with advanced cancer who are on intravenous bisphosphonate treatment a number significant enough that most medical oncologists will see patients with this condition. It is important that scientists learn why it occurs and how best to prevent or treat it," says Catherine Van Poznak, M.D., assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Van Poznak has authored two recent reviews of osteonecrosis of the jaw. One study appears in the recent issue of Current Opinions in Orthopaedics. The other was published in August in the journal Oncology. Both papers synthesize the present data for an overview of what is known to date about this recently identified complication.

ONJ is marked by exposed, non-healing bone. Pain, swelling and inflammation are the most common symptoms but the lesions can have no symptoms. ONJ typically develops months or years after treatment with intravenous bisphosphonates begins. Scientists have noted that when ONJ occurs, it commonly follows an invasive dental procedure such as an extraction where the wound does not heal in a normal fashion. To try to prevent ONJ, it has been suggested that patients maximize their oral health and take care of any invasive dental work before they begin bisphosphonate treatment.

"No reported therapy has proven successful for osteonecrosis of the jaw, which means for now the focus is on prevention or alleviating symptoms once it develops. We do not know how to predict who will develop ONJ or who is most at risk," says Van Poznak, a breast oncologist at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center who treats patients whose cancer has metastasized to bone.

"Some patients have resolution of the lesion but in other patients, it may remain stable or even progress," Van Poznak adds.

Patients with osteoporosis also take bisphosphonates, eventhough their therapy is typically prescribed as a pill, rather than intravenously. Some cases of ONJ have been reported in patients with osteoporosis who are taking oral bisphosphonates, but the risk of ONJ to such patients appears to be very low.

Prior studies have noted anywhere from 0.6 percent to 10 percent of patients with cancer on bisphosphonates developed ONJ. Reporting is currently voluntary. The problem, Van Poznak says, is that the condition itself is poorly defined and no universal reporting mechanism exists.

To address these challenges, clinical trials are being designed to help better define the condition. These upcoming clinical trials investigating bisphosphonate treatment for advanced cancer will include monitoring for ONJ, and scientists hope to learn what causes the condition to develop.


Posted by: Jessica    Source

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