Re: Bisphosphonates

Mark & Steven Bornfeld wrote:

Alexander Vasserman DDS wrote:

I have not heard anyone actually die from a broken hip but maybe this
can happen. Although I understand things tend to go down hill once a
patient breaks his/her hip. I know that we can replace hips with
implants and there are always new technologies coming out.
I would also suspect that if bisphosphonates cause necrosis of the jaw,
who is to say one can not get necrosis of the hip after a fracture and
bisphosphonate use.
Using bisphosphonates does not guarantee that one can not still get
fractures or that this is a cure for osteoporosis, they just say
bisphosphonates help. I would much rather the medical research
community focused on other options then to set patients up for other
problems. These drugs have so many adverse side effects and risks
including kidney cancer, that I do not even see why anyone would bother
with these drugs. The theraputic effects are not spontanious yet the
risks of adverse effects and jaw necrosis are.



AFAIK, all pharmaceuticals have adverse reactions. Some are more serious than others. Certainly ONJ risk needs to be reevaluated as more people are on these drugs, and I agree that it would be great if there were other effective treatments for osteoporosis (even more true for osteolytic metastatic cancer)without the ONJ risk, but we have what we have.
What we can hope for is an atmosphere where information is transmitted freely between those who prescribe the drugs and those who see the sequellae.
I assume pharmaceutical companies are working on other approaches, but it's likely that there is no risk-free approach that will be effective. I can only hope that honest medical researchers and clinicians are the ones dictating treatment protocols--and not attorneys.

Steve





BTW, here is a survey article of morbidity/mortality associated with hip fracture, (included are statistics for effectiveness of bisphosphonates for lowering fracture risks)

http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2003/09_03/1fiechtner.htm

Steve

--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
http://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY
718-258-5001
.

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