Cyclic Pamidronate Therapy in Children with Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Abstract

he main objective of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of pamidronate in improving bone mineralization and reducing fracture incidence in osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). Materials and Methods: Intravenous pamidro-nate was administered to 64 children, aged 18 months to 10 years old, with severe OI, in a 1 mg/kg single daily dose for 3 sequentional days at 4 month intervals, for over a period of 24-48 months. Clinical status, biochemical characteris-tics including bone turnover markers, the bone mineral density of the lumbar spine and femoral neck, and radiologic changes were assessed regularly during treatment. Results: The number of fractures decreased from median of 8 (range 4-11) to 0 fractures/year (range 0-4) (P