Literature Review of Using Bisphosphonates in the Treatment of Calciphylaxis

Abstract

Objective To analyze the effectiveness and safety of bisphosphonates in the treatment of patients with calcification defense. Methods PubMed, Embase databases, CNKI and Wanfang were searched to collect the case reports and clinical studies of bisphosphonates for calcification defense. Then, the relevant information of patients was extracted for statistical analysis. Results A total of 18 case reports were selected involving 20 patients. Thirteen patients (65.0%) were treated with pamidronate, four (20.0%) were treated with etidronate, two (10.0%) were treated with alendronate, and one (5.0%) was treated with zoledronic acid. Thirteen patients (65.0%) recovered completely, the recovery time of whom ranged from half month to nine months. The tolerance of bisphosphonates in most patients(90.0%)was good, while one patient who did not tolerate pamidronate recovered after the frequency of administration was adjusted and one patient with high dosage of etidronate returned to normal after the discontinuation of the usage. Conclusions Bisphosphonates, an inhibitor of bone resorption, is effective and safe in the treatment of patients with calcification defense.

Keywords

• calciphylaxis
• bisphosphonates
• pamidronate
• alendronate
• zoledronic acid