Are there side effects with bisphosphonates?
Their side effects are minimal. With intravenous bisphosphonates, there is some bone pain on the day of injection. Sometimes there’s a low-grade fever for a short period of time. Also, these drugs can affect a person’s kidney function, and there is the potential of kidney damage. It’s important to monitor function regularly, and if there is a problem, we increase the amount of time of administration of the drug. How are bisphosphonates being used now to treat cancer-related bone complications? At this point, bisphosphonates are used routinely only in patients with documented bone metastases. Clinical trials are underway that will determine the benefit of using bisphosphonates in adjuvant settings-in other words, in conjunction with cancer treatments to prevent bone deterioration caused by those treatments. What we will see in the near future is those trials coming out.
