BIOLOGICAL AND RADIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO ORAL ETIDRONATE AND TILUDRONATE IN PAGETS-DISEASE OF BONE

Paget's disease of bone is characterized by a high bone turnover, Ther efore, antiresorbing agents such as bisphosphonates are clearly indica ted, However, as they accumulate in the pagetic lesions, they could pr oduce some focal defects of bone mineralization. In a double-blind stu dy, we have had the opportunity to compare the effects of tiludronate and of etidronate (both at a fixed dose of 400 mg/day orally) on the r adiological changes of 12 patients suffering from Paget's disease of b one, After breaking the code, good agreement was observed between the radiological evaluations and the applied therapy: All positive bone ba lances were observed in the tiludronate group, except for three questi onable densifications in the etidronate group, and the negative bone b alances in the etidronate group. This confirms our previous experience with etidronate in Paget's disease when X-ray films of the lesions ar e followed sequentially during therapy. (C) 1997 by Elsevier Science I nc.